Migrants at a camp in Calais. Tens of thousands whose asylum applications have been rejected remain in France

After being robbed at gunpoint in his taxi in Albania, Kristi fled to France and made a request for asylum that was rejected.

Yet the 27-year-old Albanian taxi driver was never sent home. More than three years after being told that he had no right to refugee status, Kristi, his wife, Nertila, 24, and their three-year-old son are still living in France at taxpayers’ expense, their latest lodgings a tent in a gymnasium made available by the local council in Rennes, Brittany.

Their story illustrates President Macron’s failure to restore order to a flawed asylum system. He came to power in 2017 pledging to treat genuine asylum-seekers with greater humanity, while expelling those whose claims were shown to be bogus.

He has managed neither and