The controversial immigration law passed by the National Assembly on December 19 fields criticism across the left and migrant rights advocacy groups, who call it "racist." The government, the far right and right-wing parties, meanwhile, call it a "historic victory."

However, the perspective of those targeted by this law played little to no role in the public debate. InfoMigrants collected their testimonies.

Khaled*, Egyptian: 'I feel helpless and angry'

Khaled, 32, has been living in France for 12 years and works in a construction company. He holds a residence permit.

"I feel powerless and angry. Our voice, of us as migrants, is weak: our opinion and our criticism do not change anything in political decisions. Our everyday difficulties are not taken into account. Here, I have the impression of living in an Arab country, where politicians decide what they want without worrying about the people. The same people I meet every day at 6 am on my way to work: men and women with migrant ancestry who board public transport at dawn. In these difficult jobs of construction and cleaning, most work undeclared and are exploited. With the immigration law, everyone will suffer even more."

The law also requires foreign students to pay a deposit upon their arrival in France. "At the same time, universities advertise to attract students from elsewhere," Khaled point out. "I don’t understand what politicians want: more students and workers to fight against the aging of society or prevent people from coming to France?"

Souad, Tunisian: 'I felt great sadness'

Souad, 30, is employed in the media. She is in a regular situation.

"When I looked at what the law contained, I felt great sadness. I have lived in France for eight years and I still have a student visa, because going from student status to employee status requires filling out many criteria that I cannot have with my current employment contract.

I don't want to get married now, or have children just to get a residence permit. I don't want to force myself to do things to get more stability in my life. But what am I supposed to do in this country that keeps strangling us?

My nephew was born in France four years ago: this law puts an end to automatic birthright even though my nephew only speaks French and lives his life in this country like any other child. The authorities should clearly say that they don't want foreigners here instead of imposing unjust and impossible living conditions on us."

Omar, Egyptian: “Will the law make our lives more difficult?”

Omar, 27, has lived in France for three and a half years and works in the construction sector. Like all his colleagues on construction sites who work "under the table", he is in an irregular situation and therefore does not have a residence permit.

"I haven't heard about this law. Will it make our lives more difficult than before? Me and my colleagues, we just want to earn a living. But we have lost hope of one day getting rights from the authorities.

I work between 10 and 15 days per month and for an 8-hour day, I earn between 50 and 70 euros. This is when everything is going well, because we, undocumented immigrants, are very vulnerable to exploitation. Some employers don't necessarily pay when they should, and we don't have access to health insurance, adequate housing, or workplace safety measures.

We want to live and build our lives here. But from the start, we understood that the authorities did not want us to have a normal life. For me, the new law will not change anything."

Dina, Palestinian: 'I’m afraid for my future'

Dina, 31, has lived in France with a residence permit for seven years. She holds a Master's degree and works as a researcher in social sciences in Paris.

"Me and my Arab and French friends, we meet every week at one or the other's house. We cook together, we watch a film and we talk. A week before the law was adopted, we celebrated its rejection by the National Assembly. But we were naive, we believed for a moment that there was a certain hope in the French political class. But look at the situation now!

For my part, I was afraid of new provisions linked to obtaining French nationality, but they do not appear in the new law [the Senate had tightened the conditions of naturalization, by extending the duration of residence in France to apply for French nationality. This was not kept in the final version of the law, editor's note].

The law will not affect my current life, but the general direction taken by the French political class is a nightmare for me and all immigrants. We are slowly drowning in the racist, islamophobic and anti-immigration rhetoric.

And at the same time, we must do our best to achieve our personal, professional and academic goals. Fitting in has become a daily obsession that frightens us and hinders our lives. Every morning, we wake up with this enormous pressure: how should we behave in front of others? For right-wing political figures, do we deserve to live here? For me, this is what is most dangerous about this new law. I am afraid for my future in France.

I'm going to get married soon. My partner and I do not have French nationality. Since this law was adopted, we have been saying to ourselves that we do not want to have children here. We don't want our little ones to go through childhood thinking about the racial differences that separate them from their classmates. We did not leave our country and experience all this suffering to live here surrounded by racism and hatred."

*All first names have been changed

Also read: French union urges civil disobedience to denounce Macron's immigration law