Jean-Claude Barreau (b. 1933) is a French essayist. Following a conversion to Roman Catholicism, he was ordained and joined a group of Catholic priests working with deprived young people, however he later left the priesthood when he decided to get married. He has worked in publishing, in the press and in politics, notably as an advisor to François Mitterrand on immigration issues (1985-86), president of the International Office for Migration (1989-1992), and France’s National Institute for Demographic Studies (1989-1998). A proponent of controlled migration flows, he has attacked "reactionary" and "anti-democratic trends" in Islam in a number of his books.