The article was developed with the use of data analysis of accepted individuals to show the change/development in immigration policy and the increase of immigrants due to medical reasons.
The article's main idea is supported by the use of statistics, historical analysis, and personal anecdotes of immigrants going through the system.
The article focuses on the change in the French culture in reference to their policy on the health of immigrants and what that may lead to in terms of legislature reform. The article discusses an overall change to a more "compassionate" way in developing national laws.
“legal protection for sick people was still considerably reduced by a decision of the European court of human rights… a Ugandan woman suffering from an advanced stage of AIDS. The court refused the women’s appeal [to stay in Britain for medical reasons] and authorized her deportation."
“Sometimes the foreigner, too, is no more than his body, but this body is no longer the same: useless to the political economy, it now finds its place in a new moral economy that values suffering over labor and compassion more than rights.”
“The logic of state sovereignty in the control of immigration clearly prevailed over the universality of the principle of the right to life. The compassion protocol had met its limit.”
Didier Fassin is an anthropologist and a sociologist, who was initially trained as a physician at Paris University Pierre et Marie Curie. During his time there he practiced internal medicine and taught public health. In 2009 he was appointed at the Institute for Advanced Study as the James D. Wolfensohn Professor. Didier Fassin’s most recent project, Humanitarian Reason, explores how immigrants, refugees, and minorities are treated in France. He also has heavy connections to MSF or Doctors Without Borders.
The book from which this article was pulled has been referenced in multiple books and papers in regards to immigration policy.