06/11/05 -- The word “quota� is igniting public debate. The head of the government, Dominique de Villepin, and his interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, are making it the key to their immigration policy. Sociologist and director of research at the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), doubts the effectiveness of this option for controlling the flow of immigration. The author of “the Republic and its Diversity� suspects the government of political ulterior motives.