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The Telegraph
United Kingdom and France sign an agreement to prevent the crossings of Canal migrants
Tonight a new Anglo-French agreement was signed to prevent migrant crossings from the Canal, as France agreed to double police patrols on the beaches, but continued to resist recovering arrivals. The four-point plan that includes a major expansion of drone and CCTV surveillance along France’s 100-mile northern coastline aims to catch migrants before they leave French soil. It follows a sevenfold increase in the number of migrants crossing the English Channel this year, with a record 8,500 arriving on UK shores since January. The bilateral agreement signed by Home Affairs Minister Priti Patel and her counterpart Gérald Darmanin came when EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier arrived in London to restart Brexit talks, stalled by Anglo-French disputes. on fishing rights. Although the sources insisted that there was no link between migrants and fishing rights, they pointed to the agreement as evidence of the willingness of the two countries to work together after Brexit. “We accept that this is a shared problem and we recognize that we can only solve it by working together,” said a government source. Under the agreement, gendarmerie patrols will double as of December 1 complemented by additional surveillance technology, including drones, radar equipment, optronic binoculars and fixed cameras, to help search the coast faster and deploy more police. in the right place at the right time. The increase in police operations is backed by a French promise to disperse more immigrants from northern France to inland accommodation centers where they could apply for asylum in France or other EU countries. Border security will be increased at ports in northern and western France to prevent smugglers from shifting their illegal traffic onto trucks and other goods, while the French try to block sea routes. The deal builds on joint cooperation that has already seen the proportion of intercepted and prevented crossings rise from 41% in 2019 to 60% in recent weeks. On Friday, the French captured 20 migrants trying to reach England. A joint intelligence cell (JIC) opened in July helped secure around 140 arrests and prevent around 1,100 crossings, according to the Interior Ministry. The French, however, still resist British pleas to retrieve captured migrants anywhere in the Channel or on British soil, or to mount operations at sea to intercept and return the small illegal vessels to France, which the Kingdom Kingdom believes it would be legal under the sea. law. Ms Patel is also seeking to renegotiate the Dublin agreement under which EU countries return migrants if they are shown to have passed through them and launch a crackdown on asylum applications to counter late human rights applications and repeated against deportation. The Interior Minister said: “Today’s agreement is a significant moment for our two countries, intensifying our joint action to tackle illegal migration. Thanks to more police patrols on French beaches and better intelligence sharing between our security agencies. and law enforcement, we are already seeing fewer immigrants leaving French beaches. “The actions we have jointly agreed to today go further, doubling the number of police officers on the ground in France, increasing surveillance and introducing new cutting-edge technology. , which represents a further step in our shared mission to make channel crossings completely unviable. “In addition to these new operational plans, we will introduce a new asylum system that is strong and fair, and will introduce new legislation next year to comply with that commitment. “
