FREE now and never miss the top politics stories again. SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up fornow and never miss the top politics stories again. We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Marine Le Pen, who was a guest on L’Emission politique, a French political television show, reaffirmed her unbending stance on immigration and said that the only way to curtail illegal immigration was to “reinstate national borders”. She said: “How can we stop immigration with open borders? We can’t. But I’m not a monster. We must help and temporarily take in shipwrecked migrants. “But they cannot stay, we must send them straight back home. My aim is to have a net migration of 10,000 people a year, no more. We must also open more refugee camps in countries bordering war zones.”

GETTY Speaking on television, Le Pen stated that France must reinstate national borders

The presidential hopeful and leader of France’s anti-immigrant Front National party also pledged to discourage migrants from heading to France via a series of hardline reforms.

How can we stop immigration with open borders? We can’t. But I’m not a monster. Marine Le Pen

She said: “Illegal immigrants should be refused school places and free health care. These people should not have been let into the country in the first place.” Mrs Le Pen added that France should make it a lot harder for foreigners to gain French citizenship: “We should not be offering automatic citizenship to foreigners who are married to a French citizen. I also think that people should only be allowed to have dual citizenship if the two countries they hold a passport for are in the EU.” The far-right chief also tackled the thorny issue of Islamic extremism, and said that “all” ostentatious religious symbols should be banned from public places.

GETTY Le Pen also said that she would ban Islamic religious clothing as it encouraged extremist attitudes

“The Islamic headscarf should also be banned. If I amend the existing burka ban (to include all religious symbols, and not just the full-face veil), everyone will have to comply with the new rules. The law is the law.” Mrs Le Pen then blamed “cowardly mayors” for the rise of radical Islam in France: “Local officials are turning a blind eye to extremism in exchange for so-called ‘civil peace’. They have turned France into a breeding ground for jihadists.” Mrs Le Pen also set out her party’s plan for the economy, and said that, if elected, she would follow in US president Donald Trump’s footsteps and impose a “border tax” on French companies that move production overseas in a bid to “put France first”.

GETTY Le Pen's popularity has soared after front-runner Francois Fillon was embroiled in a scandal