Illegal immigration in the Channel

THE United Kingdom said on Friday March 10 it would pay £477 million (€539 million) over the next three years as part of a deal with France to combat illegal immigration across the English Channel.

The deal was announced during a joint summit between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Friday.

This decision follows the controversial ‘stop the boats’ legislation announced last week by the British PM that will mean refugees are not granted asylum in the UK.

The new law has been criticised as racist, illegal and unworkable and has led to the widely publicised criticism from BBC star, Gary Lineker. The money will finance a new detention centre for migrants in France and the deployment of 500 French security and support officers “to enable the fastest detection of attempted crossings” by small boats, a joint statement from the two countries said.

The UK has seen an increase in the number of illegal migrants who pay human trafficking gangs to smuggle them into Britain in small, non­seaworthy boats. Many of these boats have sunk, and people have died.