(FRANCE) — France’s National Assembly adopted the Rodwell Bill on May 5, 2026, tripling the maximum period of administrative detention for irregular migrants from 90 days to 210 days, even as removals from detention remain low.

The measure applies to foreign nationals under expulsion orders who are deemed a serious threat to public order. It pushes the detention ceiling to 7 months, a sharp extension of a system that held detainees for a far shorter period before this month’s vote.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin welcomed the result on May 6, 2026, calling it “a victory for public safety” and arguing that the extension brings France closer to other European Union partners, including Germany and the Netherlands. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu framed the law in security terms a day earlier, saying, “The role of the State is to protect French people: the Republic must give itself the means to act and prevent this from happening again. Obligations to leave the territory must be enforced. Without exception.”

Charles Rodwell, the lawmaker whose name is attached to the bill, wrote on social media on May 6, 2026: “There is no longer any ‘on the one hand’ possible on security and immigration. The adoption. in memory of Philippine is proof of this.” The bill is also referred to as the Philippine Bill.

French authorities are making that change against a record that shows detention does not always end in deportation. In 2025, only 39% of people held in French detention centers were actually removed.

Cost is another pressure point. France’s Court of Auditors put detention expenses at €602 per day, which means a full 210-day stay costs the state roughly €126,000 per person.

Those numbers sit at the center of a practical problem that French officials have not solved with a longer detention limit: removal often depends on consular documents from countries of origin. Migrants can now remain in administrative centers for up to seven months while prefectures wait for laissez-passer papers, a process that can stall when foreign governments are reluctant to cooperate.

That delay carries its own human toll. People under expulsion orders face a longer stretch of confinement and uncertainty while officials try to secure documents that may not arrive quickly, or at all.

The French move comes days before a wider European overhaul takes full effect. The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, scheduled for full application on June 12, 2026, aims to harmonize border and return procedures across the bloc, part of a broader effort by European governments to make detention and removal systems more uniform.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described that shift in March 2026, saying, “We have learnt the lessons of the past. And today, we are better equipped” to manage migration through tighter controls, including increased surveillance and third-country return hubs. France’s legislation lands in that broader European push, but it does so with a domestic system where detention already costs heavily and removal rates remain limited.

Migration enforcement has also hardened across the Atlantic. In the United States, the Department of Homeland Security made expanded detention and removal a priority in early 2026, with Under Secretary Kristi Noem defending that approach in Senate testimony on March 3, 2026.

Noem said, “I believe immigration enforcement and dignity aren’t mutually exclusive,” as she defended a surge in federal enforcement operations. DHS also highlighted enforcement priorities in press material tied to Operation PARRIS on Feb 18, 2026, reflecting a similar emphasis on custody and removals.

The tougher line has produced diplomatic friction as well. In April 2026, the detention in Louisiana of an 85-year-old French widow, Marie-Thérèse Ross, drew criticism from the French foreign minister and exposed how closely migration enforcement can spill into bilateral relations, even between allied governments.

French policy and U.S. policy are not identical, but both now place more weight on prolonged custody as a tool of migration control. That parallel has drawn attention from European officials looking for stricter enforcement models before the new EU pact fully enters force.

Businesses operating across borders are also watching the French changes closely. Corporate mobility managers have been warned that stricter document checks through the ANEF portal could lengthen wait lists to 6–8 weeks and raise the risk for foreign staff whose records contain even minor status discrepancies.

That creates a second layer of pressure beyond detention centers. Employers trying to move staff, renew permissions or correct paperwork may face longer administrative delays at the same moment that France is expanding the state’s ability to hold people under expulsion orders.

Official records on the policy shift and its wider context are spread across several public sources, including the [French National Assembly Legislative Portal](https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr), the [European Commission – State of Schengen Report 2026](https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_100), the [DHS Press Releases](https://www.dhs.gov/news) and the [USCIS Newsroom](https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom). Together, they show a French government extending detention sharply ahead of a new EU framework, while the basic arithmetic of removals, costs and consular delays remains unchanged.