Traveling in Pas-de-Calais, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau announced this Friday more resources to fight illegal immigration. Since the start of the year, more than 70 migrants have died trying to cross the Channel to reach Great Britain. A dramatic situation which exasperates residents, but also elected officials.
The minister announced the arrival on Monday of 60 air and border police officers as reinforcements in the department, but also of additional police officers, 15 in Dunkirk and 10 in Calais.
The office for combating the smuggling of migrants has also been reinforced in terms of staff with 14 additional investigators in Dunkirk and six in Calais where a new police headquarters will be built. Finally, 26 additional police officers will be dedicated to the transport police who monitor trains and buses.
Bruno Retailleau announced the establishment of a compensation fund for individuals when there is damage. This fund will be co-financed by the United Kingdom.
Standoff with London
The Minister of the Interior said he was ready for a showdown with London on immigration. “If it is necessary to denounce the Le Touquet agreements, I will do so,” declared Bruno Retailleau during a press conference in Ambleteuse, in Pas-de-Calais. This agreement signed between France and London in February 2003 amounts to moving the British border to French soil, with checks taking place before boarding.
“The relationship between France and the United Kingdom can no longer be reduced to simple subcontracting” by France “guarding the border” between the two countries”, underlined Bruno Retailleau. “There is a standoff to be had. I hope we don’t get to that point, but we have to change this relationship,” he insisted.
“Brexit has destroyed all the migration relations we had with the UK, including legal admissions,” deplored the Minister of the Interior, who is calling for the establishment of a legal route to allow migrants who want to go to Great Britain to have a chance of access.
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