Édouard Philippe advocates a total closure of immigration in Mayotte

The Horizons presidential candidate, Édouard Philippe, believes that “the urgency is to close the floodgates of immigration” in Mayotte, and “totally”, in an interview published by the newspaper France Mayotte Matin on Thursday, on the eve of his trip to the small archipelago.

“To build the future of Mayotte, the urgency is to close the floodgates to immigration. Not half. Totally,” underlines the former prime minister, who is launching his return to school with a visit on Friday and Saturday to the poorest department in France, before going to the island of Reunion.

Even if he says he is “attached to the right of asylum, which is part of our republican tradition”, he makes the “commitment”, if he reaches the Élysée, that “the registration of any new asylum request in Mayotte will be suspended during the next five-year term”. And “as long as the territory remains saturated, this immigration route will remain closed”.

Mayotte had some 323,000 inhabitants on January 1, 2026, according to INSEE, around half of whom were foreign nationals, the vast majority Comorians. The small archipelago in the Indian Ocean has become a destination on a new migratory route taken by nationals of the countries of the Great Lakes region (DRC, Rwanda, Burundi), often via the Comoros.

“What is the meaning of creating an additional breath of fresh air for African immigration on top of out-of-control Comorian immigration? It’s absurd, hypocritical and dangerous for the territory,” argues Édouard Philippe. The poll favorite on the right wants a “French return center to be installed in the region, in East Africa, in order to quickly and massively remove illegal foreigners living in Mayotte”.