Even Yaël Braun-Pivet, the president of the lower house of parliament, who voted for the bill, told BFM TV that she was “terribly disturbed” by some of its contents, particularly the delay in access to social benefits for migrants with children.
Rebels in Mr Macron's party could further weaken his hold on parliament, where he lacks an absolute majority, and complicate the remainder of his five-year term.
A key part of France's new immigration law will make social security benefits for foreigners conditional on staying in France for at least five years, or 30 months for those who have a job, reflecting some of the National Rally's long-standing campaign lines. In addition, automatic citizenship for foreign children born in France will be abolished. You must now officially apply for citizenship between the ages of 16 and 18.
In a surprise move that embarrassed the Macron camp, the National Rally announced on Tuesday that it would support the latest version of the bill.
Six months before the European Parliament elections, in which Ms Le Pen's party is currently in first place. As sentiment in Europe hardens over immigration, the EU agreed on Wednesday to an overhaul of its asylum laws that would include more border detention centers and faster deportations.
The government managed to pass the law because it promised at the last minute that it would not enact the law if it did not get enough support without the support of the National Rally. But although the government did not need Le Pen MPs to pass the law, it would have failed if they had voted against the bill.
A “disgusting victory”
Although the law does not appear radical compared to measures recently introduced in the United Kingdom and other countries, critics in France see it as a breach of the country's sacred universalist principles because it introduces discrimination based on nationality.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a far-left politician, said on social media: “It’s a disgusting victory.”
He said without the National Assembly's 88 votes, the government would have “less than an absolute majority… A new political axis is emerging.”
The left-wing leaders of two French districts, Lot and Seine-Saint-Denis, announced that they would not impose “national preferential treatment” over welfare and that legal migrants would continue to receive handouts under current conditions.
But Ms. Borne defended the bill, arguing that it contains progressive measures, including a ban on holding illegal migrant children in detention centers and easier procedures for undocumented workers to obtain their papers.
“Stop making slogans, posturing and suggesting that there is a similarity between our bill and the positions of the far right,” she said. “The extreme right stands for national preference. We believe in integration [foreigners] through work.”
Olivier Véran, the government spokesman, called Ms. Le Pen's claims that she inspired the bill an “intellectual fraud.”
“Don’t fall into the trap of those who want to manipulate emotions. This text is not a national rally text,” he said.
Ms Borne added: “We wanted to adopt a law with useful and effective measures that our fellow citizens expect, with two objectives: to remove more quickly and effectively those who have no right to be in France and to remove those we elect, “to be better integrated.”
However, she acknowledged that some of the provisions were likely unconstitutional, adding that the text “needs to be developed” once it has been examined by the Constitutional Council after being presented by Macron.
The council is scheduled to do so on Wednesday. It has a month to review the law and could repeal some of its more controversial measures.