France cuts immigration amid rising far-right support

France has drastically cut the number of legal residence permits it has issued, part of efforts to slash immigration in order to ward off growing support for the far right. The 42% decline in the first nine months of the year comes with several Western countries looking to clamp down on immigration — both legal and undocumented — as mainstream political parties in countries such as Germany, France, and the UK face threats from anti-migration, nationalist blocs that are surging in the polls. Across the Atlantic, the political calculus is different, but the results are even more intense: The Trump administration is pushing for an end to birthright citizenship and has sharply curbed other legal pathways to enter the US.