Tag: illegal Channel crossings

New UK-France agreement to reduce illegal crossings

New agreement between the UK and France to step up patrols and intelligence operations in France to reduce illegal crossings

The United Kingdom and France yesterday signed an agreement to strengthen operations to combat illegal migration in northern France to prevent crossings to the United Kingdom with a significant increase in dedicated human, technological and intelligence resources.

Since the 2024 UK election, work between the UK and France has prevented more than 42,000 illegal migrants from crossing the Channel. The joint action also led to the arrest of 480 smugglers in 2025. 

The new partnership will build on these encouraging results to reduce the number of illegal Channel crossings.

  • For the first time, UK funding will include a flexible part to support actions to strengthen the effectiveness of the scheme. These actions will be subject to a regular joint evaluation in order to analyse their impact on reducing the flow of illegal immigration.
  • The personnel (nearly 1,200 agents of the police force, the intelligence services and the maritime prefecture) already deployed will be renewed and reinforced in the North to prevent illegal crossings from France.
  • The new partnership aims to increase the number of personnel deployed by 53% – 907 personnel funded in the 2023-2026 cycle and 1,392 in the 2026-2029 cycle, as well as a CRS unit dedicated to the fight against illegal immigration, managed by France. This will be accompanied by the deployment of new technologies to reduce the number of departures of small boats, in particular water taxis.

Under the new partnership, £500 million (€580 million) will be invested to strengthen the control system in northern France and a further £161 million (€187 million) will fund new actions based on their impact on crossing prevention.  If these new measures do not yield sufficient results, on the basis of a joint annual evaluation, funding will be redirected to new actions. 

This new partnership includes:

  • Reinforcement of staff on the ground: currently, 907 people are deployed on the ground and have prevented 42,000 crossing attempts since the 2024 UK elections. This new partnership provides for a 53% increase in the workforce, including the creation of a new specialized unit (SIPAF – Interministerial Border Police) of 80 people.
  • The completion of major real estate projects and new investments: the administrative detention centre in Dunkirk and the future CRS cantonment in Calais, which will increase the efficiency of the police forces.
  • The strengthening of intelligence and judicial police units: this unit, the GAO, composed of 18 people, led to the arrest of 480 smugglers in 2025. The number of personnel in this unit will be increased to 30 in order to intensify the fight against smuggling networks in the northern zone
  • Strengthen surveillance capabilities and infrastructure using drones, helicopters and electronic means to better prevent crossing attempts.

These measures are complemented by the desire to combat the phenomenon of illegal immigration to the United Kingdom upstream, by strengthening joint actions in countries of origin and transit.

As the Channel is an external border of the European Union, the partnership between the United Kingdom and France is part of a broader European cooperation that both countries wish to strengthen.

Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said: “Our collaboration with the French has prevented tens of thousands of illegal migrants from boarding the boats bound for Britain.

“But we need to go further. This historic agreement will prevent illegal migrants from making the perilous journey and put smugglers behind bars.”

 French Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nunez, said: “This new agreement gives our security forces the means to continue their decisive commitment in the fight against dangerous Channel crossings and to strengthen the security of coastal residents.

“I also welcome Frontex’s commitment, which is intended to be amplified in the context of enhanced European involvement in the surveillance of this external border of the European Union.

“I also recognise Frontex’s commitment to be strengthened as part of a stronger European involvement in the surveillance of this external border of the European Union.

“A large part of the resources provided for in this partnership will be concentrated from the beginning of the summer and during the summer period, which is traditionally the busiest period for small craft crossings.”

This partnership complements the important reforms undertaken by the UK government to reduce the pull factors that push irregular migrants across the Channel and to intensify the expulsion of irregular foreign nationals from British territory.

Nearly 60,000 illegal migrants and foreign criminals have been sent back or deported since this UK government came to power, an increase of 31%.

Immigration control measures to combat illegal working have reached levels unprecedented in British history, with an 83% increase in arrests and a 77% increase in police interventions under this government.

The UK government is also closing all reception hotels for asylum seekers and transferring them to accommodation centres, especially those on former military sites.

UK and France agree ‘major deal’ to crack down on illegal Channel crossings

The Prime Minister and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed to take forward a groundbreaking partnership to address illegal Channel crossings and dismantle the people smuggling networks.

A new pilot scheme will see small boat arrivals being returned to France then an equal number of migrants will be able to come to the UK from France through a new legal route – fully documented and subject to strict security checks.

The pilot agreement is intended to prevent illegal migrant journeys across Europe to the UK and prevent dangerous small boat crossings, helping to undermine the business model of organised gangs profiting from people’s misery by showing others these journeys could result in them being returned back to France – ultimately saving lives.

Both countries are working to implement the pilot in the coming weeks, and, once in force, migrants who cross the Channel by small boat can be detained and removed.

The Prime Minister has made it a priority to reset relationships across Europe and the government is now unlocking, for the first time, the levels of co-operation needed to deliver new and bold approaches to tackle organised immigration crime.

The French government are working to implement new ways of cracking down on small boats, including a review of their maritime tactics so their operational teams can intervene on the water, ensuring taxi boats that pickup migrants waiting in the water can be stopped.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “This ground-breaking deal is a crucial further step in turning the tide on illegal small boat crossings and restoring order to our immigration system.

“For the first time illegal migrants will be sent back to France – targeting the heart of these gangs’ business model and sending a clear message that these life-threatening journeys are pointless.

“By resetting our relationships across Europe we’ve made levels of co-operation possible never seen before. This is about grip not gimmicks, and what serious government looks like – taking down these criminal enterprises piece by piece as we secure our borders through my Plan for Change.”

The Home Secretary hosted her French counterpart, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, in Downing Street yesterday. The ministers discussed the work being done both internationally and domestically to prevent illegal migration, including issues like clamping down on illegal working and increasing removals of those with no right to be here.

Since the government came into power, Immigration Enforcement have increased illegal working activity by 51%, with 10,031 visits leading to 7,130 arrests, and will soon undertake a major nationwide blitz targeting illegal working hotspots, focusing on the gig economy and migrants working as delivery riders.

The UK will go further by changing the law to support a clampdown on illegal working in the gig economy. New biometric kits will be rolled out for Immigration Enforcement teams so they can do on-the-spot checks.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Dangerous small boats in our Channel undermine our border security and put lives at risk.

“That is why we are so determined to work with France to go after the criminal smuggler gangs, to undermine their business model, to begin returns and to prevent boat crossings.

“This new pilot agreement with France is extremely important and allows us for the first time to return people who have paid to travel here illegally, and will sit alongside our wider joint enforcement action, including disrupting supply chains to seize boats and engines, shutting down social media accounts, and targeting finances.

“Since last summer, we have returned over 30,000 people with no right to be in the UK and a major surge in immigration enforcement activity, with a 51% increase in the number of illegal working arrests.

“We are building the foundations of a new and stronger approach to protecting our border security.”

Under the new UK-France pilot, any asylum claim submitted by a migrant who has crossed the Channel will be considered for inadmissibility and, if declared inadmissible, the Home Office will organise readmission of the individual to France.

For those coming to the UK legally, an individual in France will submit an Expression of Interest application to the new route and the Home Office will make a decision once they have undergone biometric checks. Anyone who had arrived by small boat and returned to France will not be eligible for the legal route to the UK.

The innovative approach will be tested first before being gradually ‘ramped up’.