The court rejected measures that make access to social benefits, family reunification and immigration quotas more difficult.

More than a third of the articles in a controversial immigration law must be abolished, the French Constitutional Council has said.

The Council, a body that reviews the constitutionality of laws, on Thursday rejected measures in the bill that would tighten access to social benefits, family reunification and the introduction of parliamentary immigration quotas.

She confirmed much of the bill originally presented by President Emmanuel Macron’s government, but criticized controversial additions made under pressure from the political right and the far right.

The bill includes immigration quotas, barriers to family reunification and delays in migrants’ access to social benefits, as well as articles that remove the automatic birthright to citizenship and make it easier to deport non-French nationals.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin welcomed the ruling, saying it confirmed the government’s original proposals.

“Never before has a text provided so many resources for expelling criminals,” he wrote on X.

“The government notes, as I was able to express during the debates, that numerous articles submitted to Parliament were censored for non-compliance with parliamentary procedure,” Darmanin wrote in French.

Jordan Bardella, the president of the far-right National Rally party, criticized the ruling, which he described as a “coup by the judges with the support of the president.”

He called for a referendum on immigration as the “only solution.”

The Council rejected 32 of 86 amendments because they were unrelated to the subject matter of the law. However, they could later be accepted as part of another bill.

In addition, the Council criticized three other amendments in part or in whole for their nature and partially rejected Parliament’s setting of immigration quotas.

Earlier this week, the United Nations special rapporteur on racism said the bill violated France’s constitutional commitment to equality and freedom.

“If we look at the French constitution or the way the head of state or many in positions of power speak, that is equality, but that is in strong contradiction to this policy,” said Ashwini KP, UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism , racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, said Reuters news agency.

Ashwini KP also raised concerns about the proposed restrictions on welfare for migrants, saying they would have a “strong impact on marginalized communities”.

Macron has made the bill a key element of his second term in office and defended its passage by parliament.

However, the president faced criticism over the bill, which was supported by the far-right National Rally party.

Macron referred the law to the French Constitutional Council to examine whether it is compatible with the constitution.