The UK has signed an agreement with the French Government to tackle illegal migrant activity in the Channel – the latest step forward in our shared mission to make channel crossings completely unviable. The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, and her French counterpart, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, signed an enhanced agreement which builds on the joint co-operation that has already seen the proportion of crossings intercepted and prevented, rise from 41% in 2019 to 60% in recent weeks.
The number of officers patrolling French beaches will double as a result of the new agreement to tackle migrant activity in the Channel. This increase in officer numbers represents a major uplift in capability that will significantly enhance law enforcement operations against illegal immigration, including doubling the number of gendarmes, French police, patrolling the beaches from 1 December. This will bolster the patrolling of the 150-kilometre stretch of coastline regularly targeted by people-smuggling networks and enable quicker response rates to suspicious activity, stopping migrants leaving French beaches in the first place and preventing more dangerous and unnecessary crossings.
In addition to increased officer numbers, the Home Secretary and Interior Minister also agreed an enhanced package of cutting edge surveillance technology - including drones, radar equipment, optronic binoculars and fixed cameras. The specialist equipment will allow the French to be more efficient in searching and clearing areas faster and help ensure officers are deployed in the right place at the right time, as a result increasing the number of migrants and facilitators detected and prevented from entering the water.
This focus on tackling criminal smuggling networks builds on collaboration between the UK and French law enforcement agencies, which has already seen the creation of a new Joint Intelligence Cell (JIC). Since it opened in July, the JIC has helped secure around 140 arrests and prevent approximately 1,100 crossings. In addition, this year, Immigration Enforcement have convicted 57 individuals for people smuggling, including those convicted of facilitating small boats Channel crossings. A further 46 people have been convicted of offences related to the small boat crossings.
The package agreed at the meeting on Saturday also includes steps to support migrants into appropriate accommodation in France in order to take them out of the hands of criminal gangs; and our continued support to accommodation centres where migrants can be supported and advised on claiming asylum in a safe third country. It also covers measures to increase border security at ports in northern and western France to reduce opportunities for smuggling and ensure that we avoid the illegal migration threat shifting towards freight traffic.
Both sides also agreed the importance of a continued close dialogue to reduce migratory pressures at the shared border.
Welcoming the agreement, Richard said: "Thanks to measures put in place by this Government, the number of illegal channel crossings that are intercepted has risen markedly to 60 per cent, reducing the number of migrants attempting the journey from France. We are determined to go further to save lives and protect the integrity of our borders. This deal will double police patrolling French beaches, ensure migrants have accommodation in France and improve border security through increased surveillance and new, cutting-edge technologies, preventing migrants from leaving France in the first place and preventing more dangerous and unnecessary crossings."
