Macron under fire over French asylum law reform

French President Emmanuel Macron faces a backlash over plans to tighten immigration law as the number of asylum seekers soars, with aid and emergency agencies accusing his government of planning mass expulsions, according to Reuters. 

To try to ease the tension, Macron dispatched Prime Minister Edouard Philippe to meet aid organizations on Thursday and explain legislation due to go in coming weeks to parliament where his Republique En Marche group has an absolute majority.

Before Thursday's meeting, the Secours Catholique charity denounced the policy plans -- which will clarify when migrants must be returned to their countries of origin -- as a simplistic and backward step. Another charity said it planned to boycott the meeting with Philippe.

Laurent Giovannoni of Secours Catholique said the new law would trigger the expulsion of anyone not classified as a war refugee in the strictest sense, meaning scores of people in dire need or danger would be forced out.

"This policy belongs to the past," Giovannoni, who said he had been shown the latest draft of the bill, told franceinfo radio.

The number of people filing asylum requests in France hit a record in 2017, topping 100,000.

Macron, elected in May after a duel with Marine Le Pen, the head of the anti-immigrant National Front, has promised to speed up processing asylum requests while also ensuring that those who do not qualify are dealt with more firmly.

He broke away from other matters at a new conference in Rome on Thursday to say: "Nothing in the policy being pursued by the government calls the right of asylum into question, but asylum does not mean welcoming people indiscriminately."

Currently, just four percent of people refused asylum are expelled, said...