French Assimilation

First, no one know how many immigrants live in France. In fact, no one really knows who is or isn’t an immigrant. There are now third generation immigrants who are French citizens born to French parents and for whom “the French” are the white people from neighboring cities.

Secondly, it has been nearly impossible to criticize the immigration policy without being called a racist, even though the immigration issue has never been about race.

Third, as the demographics of France are being transformed, the political elite adapts accordingly. In the eye of a politician, immigrants are neither a problem nor an opportunity for France, but essentially new voters. So the political debate about immigration mutates at the same time as the French population does.

The proposed ban on Islamic head scarves in French state schools has provoked considerable foreign comment, much of it hostile. In some Islamic countries it has been taken as an attack on the Islamic religion, which it is not. It is a defense of the impartiality of the state with regard to religion, and of the cultural authority and autonomy of secular education in France.

The government has decided to require the estimated 100,000 legal immigrants arriving in France each year to sign an "integration contract" upon arrival if they wish to obtain a residence card. 

These quotes show how france wish to obtain their 'national identity' by not allowing immigrants to have the right to express their religion in public. 

http://www.frumforum.com/frances-assimilation-failure/

http://www.migrationinformation.org/feature/display.cfm?ID=165