FRANCE POLITICS:  MARINE LE PEN SPEAKS OF  'AREAS WHERE YOU FEEL FOREIGN IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY'

The Yellow Vests protests weren't the only thing happening in France on Saturday.   There were the meetings of President Emmanuel Macron's "debate", events that appeared to be sparsely attended.

But there was a political campaign speech in the south of France.

The leader of the political party that leads the polls in France right now, Marine Le Pen of the National Rally, made a campaign speech to women in Thors, France.

Speaking ahead of the European Parliament elections in May, Le Pen addressed the immigration issue head on:

"Globalization, with the opening of irrational borders, has delivered our streets, our neighborhoods, our cities, our villages, to a delusional immigration which transforms some places in non-France zone"

Joining her at the rally in a gym were other leading National Rally candidates in the upcoming elections Thierry Mariani, a former cabinet minister in a "Conservative" government in France, and Jordan Bardella, the 23 year old newcomer, bringing fresh blood into the rebranded National Rally, formerly the National Front.

Bardella said this:

"The 480,000 illegal immigrants present on our soil should not live in expectation or their regularization, but rather in the expectation of their expulsion"

He noted that immigration costs France in terms of government spending, security and culture.