Migrant crossings in the Channel: “There is a standoff to be had” with London, warns Bruno Retailleau

Bruno Retailleau ready to go to the “arm wrestling” with London. Faced with an increase in illegal Channel crossings by migrants, the Minister of the Interior called on the United Kingdom not to simply delegate the “guarding“from its border to France.

“Brexit has destroyed all migration relations” with the British government, lamented the minister this Friday during a trip to Ambleteuse, in Pas-de-Calais. And Bruno Retailleau pleaded for “a legal admission route with criteria in economic terms and family reunification”.

“We have to change this relationship”

“There is a standoff to be had. I hope it doesn't come to that, but we have to change this relationship“, estimated Bruno Retailleau, who will travel to London on December 10 for a meeting bringing together, in addition to France and the United Kingdom, representatives of the Netherlands, Germany and Ireland. “The standoff is quite simple, it’s at a given moment, if things don’t progress, we will denounce the Le Touquet agreements” signed between London and Paris, he threatened. Since 2004, these agreements have established controls on French soil for people leaving for the United Kingdom. With relative effectiveness: a record number of at least 72 candidates for exile have died since January 1 while trying to reach England by sea, according to the Pas-de-Calais prefecture.

Will the host of Place Beauvau win his case? The only certainty: the subject of immigration, both legal and illegal, is sensitive for the new Labor government. He announced on Thursday a “plan” to reduce arrivals, tightening the conditions for hiring foreign workers and sanctions for companies violating visa rules.

• Read also

  An infant dies in the English Channel after the sinking of a migrant boat

On the French side, Bruno Retailleau announced police reinforcements, the appointment of a special representative on Immigration to the ministry, and a mission to combat illegal immigration on the coast, entrusted to the new delegated prefect for defense and security. security in Hauts-de-France, Vincent Lagoguey. Around 200 additional people will be deployed to strengthen the local teams of the Office for Combating Smuggling of Migrants (Oltim), the border police (PAF), the Calais and Dunkirk police stations or even to intervene on buses and trains .

An association helping migrants was concerned about the minister's announcements, seeing “the continuation of the militarization of the coastline” despite “the ineffectiveness of this policy.” “The United Kingdom has already criminalized people arriving illegally, which has had no impact on departuress”, underlined Flore Judet, coordinator of the Auberge des Migrants. The associations are calling for an increase in rescue resources at sea.so that the Channel stops being a cemetery“.