A disturbing new poll published this week by Le Journal du Dimanche, 72% of French people believe crime in their country is "out of control." Just one year after warnings that France risks sliding into "Mexinization," a term describing the erosion of public authority, the rise of no-go zones, gang dominance, and the breakdown of everyday safety: ordinary citizens are sounding the alarm.
This is not fringe sentiment. It is a broad consensus cutting across much of French society after decades of mass immigration from North Africa and the Middle East, combined with failing integration, lenient policing, and elite denial.
The Numbers Behind the Fear
France has recorded repeated waves of rising crime, particularly in urban areas. Official statistics show foreigners, who make up roughly 8% of the population, are dramatically overrepresented in certain offence categories: up to 40% of suspects in vehicle thefts, 38% in burglaries, and significant shares in robberies and sexual assaults. In Paris public transport alone, recent data pointed to 64% of robberies, physical attacks, and sexual assaults being committed by foreigners, with a heavy concentration from North African backgrounds.
Violent incidents, knife crime, drug-related gang warfare, and "rodeos" (illegal street racing with stolen vehicles) have become normalised in many suburbs. High-profile attacks, no-go zones where emergency services hesitate to enter, and routine harassment of white women has accelerated the sense that the social contract is fraying.
The term "Mexinization," popularised in French discourse, refers to a future where powerful criminal networks operate with impunity, public spaces feel unsafe, and the state gradually loses its monopoly on violence. It is a warning that France, once synonymous with elegance and order, could descend into the kind of low-level anarchy seen in parts of Latin America, where cartels and street gangs challenge state authority.
Why This is Happening
The roots are not mysterious. France has pursued one of Europe's most ambitious experiments in rapid demographic change. Millions of migrants from culturally distant regions, many with lower average educational attainment and different social norms, were admitted with expectations of seamless assimilation. Instead, parallel societies formed in the banlieues.
Integration failure: Second and third generations often show higher crime rates than the native population, linked to family breakdown, welfare dependency, and Islamist radicalisation.
Policing and justice: Soft policies, revolving-door prisons, and political pressure to avoid "stigmatising" communities have emboldened offenders.
Cultural denial: For years, the French establishment insisted there was "no link" between immigration and crime, despite mounting evidence. This gaslighting has destroyed public trust.
The result is a country where many citizens no longer feel at home in their own cities.
The Political Earthquake
This poll arrives at a critical moment. Marine Le Pen's National Rally and other Right-wing voices have long warned about these trends, only to be smeared as extremists. Now, the centre and even parts of the left are being forced to confront reality as public safety collapses.
With legislative elections approaching, crime and immigration rank as top voter concerns alongside purchasing power. The French are increasingly voting with their feet and their ballots, supporting tougher policies, more deportations, and an end to open-border idealism.
The Broader European and Western Warning
France is not alone. Similar patterns are visible in Sweden (no-go zones and gang shootings), Britain (grooming gangs and knife crime), and Germany (rising violent crime post-2015). What happens in France, Europe's cultural and political heart, will echo across Europe and the West.
A nation that cannot secure its streets loses legitimacy. When 7 in 10 citizens believe the state has lost control, the social fabric begins to tear. "Mexinization" is not inevitable, but it is the logical endpoint of ignoring human biodiversity, cultural compatibility, and the basic requirement that newcomers respect the host society's rules.
France stands at a crossroads. It can continue the Bioleninist (see blog article today) path of importing and elevating grievance-based client classes, or it can rediscover the hard truths of sovereignty, assimilation, and order.
The French people, in their clear-eyed 72%, are demanding the latter.