The French prime minister has condemned remarks made by some of the country’s mayors who said they would only allow Christian refugees to settle in their towns.

“You don't sort [refugees] on the basis of religion. The right to asylum is a universal right,” Manuel Valls said Tuesday.

With Europe struggling to cope with a massive influx of people fleeing violence and poverty in the Middle East and Africa, France has pledged to house thousands of refugees within its borders.

On Monday, French President Francois Hollande announced that the European country would take in 24,000 asylum-seekers over the next two years.

Hollande added that France would rapidly take in 1,000 refugees from Syria, Iraq and Eritrea.

Shortly after Hollande’s remarks, Yves Nicolin, the mayor of Roanne in central France, said his town would only accept Christian refugees in order to be “certain they are not terrorists in disguise.”

He said that Roanne would be prepared to settle “a dozen families, providing they are Christian refugees who are persecuted in Syria by Daesh for being Christians.”

Similar comments were made by Damien Meslot, the mayor of Belfort in eastern France, who said he would only consider settling Christian refugees from Iraq and Syria because “they are the most persecuted.”

Both mayors are members of the main opposition party of former president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Also on Tuesday, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (pictured below) slammed the mayors' comments as “dreadful.”

“I really don't understand this distinction. I condemn it and I think it's dreadful,” Cazeneuve noted, adding, “A whole series of minorities are being persecuted in the situation in Syria. Christians from the Middle East must be welcomed, but there are also Muslims and other minorities who are persecuted with the same degree of barbarity.”

France “must be prepared to take in all those who are persecuted regardless of their religion and their background,” he said.

The controversy comes as France is expected to receive 200 refugees, the first portion of some 24,000 migrants, on Wednesday.