U.S. President Donald Trump piled on criticism on Dec. 31 of a decision to grant Hollywood superstar George Clooney French passports after a junior government official in Paris labelled the move a "double standard."
Oscar winner Clooney, his wife Amal Alamuddin Clooney and their two children had become French citizens.
Trump, whose administration has backed anti-immigration parties in Europe, said that Paris was welcome to the "Ocean's Eleven" star, a long-term Democratic supporter, fundraiser and a vocal critic of the president.
"Good News! George and Amal Clooney, two of the worst political prognosticators of all time, have officially become citizens of France which is, sadly, in the midst of a major crime problem because of their absolutely horrendous handling of immigration," Trump said on his Truth Social network.
The news of Clooney and his family becoming French comes ahead of language requirements for citizenship being toughened for everyone else under new immigration rules from Jan. 1.
A junior member of President Emmanuel Macron's government had also criticized the decision to award passports despite Clooney speaking poor French.
"Personally, I understand the feeling of some French people of a double standard," Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, a junior interior minister, told the France Info radio station.
"We need to be careful about the message we're sending."
Her boss, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, and the foreign ministry however defended the decision.
The civil code states that "French nationality may be conferred by naturalization, upon the proposal of the minister of foreign affairs, to any French-speaking foreigner who applies for it and who contributes through their distinguished service to France's influence and the prosperity of its international economic relations."
But Clooney has admitted that his French remains poor despite hundreds of lessons.
Under the new immigration rules, applicants will need a certificate showing they have a level of French that could get them into a French university. They will also have to pass a civic knowledge test.
