Children of immigrants born in Mayotte, a French overseas territory located between Madagascar and the African continent, will no longer automatically become French citizens, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Sunday, Reuters reported.

“It is no longer possible to become French if you are not the child of French parents,” Darmanin told reporters after arriving on the island, announcing the abolition of citizenship acquired by birth in the region, a first in recent French history.

The former French colony, located near the impoverished Comoros Islands off the east African coast, has become the center of intense social unrest, with many residents blaming illegal immigrants for worsening conditions.

Much poorer than mainland France, Mayotte has suffered decades of gang violence and social unrest. Recently, the situation has worsened due to lack of water.

Since January, islanders have staged strikes and erected roadblocks to protest what they say are unacceptable living conditions that are destroying large parts of the local infrastructure.

The idea belonged to Emmanuel Macron

The reform, which Darmanin said was the brainchild of French President Emmanuel Macron, would require constitutional amendments.

It comes less than three weeks after France’s top court overturned a large part of a new immigration law aimed at increasing foreigners’ access to social benefits and limiting the number of new arrivals to the country.

Immigration is a hot topic in France, one of the European strongholds of far-right anti-immigration parties.

At the same time, Darmanin stated that “there is no question of doing this for other territories of the republic.”