France will soon start stopping boats at sea as they take migrants across the Channel for southern England, local officials claimed on Friday, November 28th—a major change in strategy following pressure from the UK.
Almost 40,000 people have crossed the Channel aboard small boats since the start of the year, an influx of migrants that has put the UK’s Labour government under serious pressure.
In a new tactic employed in recent years, people-smugglers have sent ‘taxi boats’ to pick up migrants directly in the water to evade French shore patrols. Migrants often pay the smugglers thousands of euros per head for the crossing.
French security forces have stepped up shore patrols to apprehend migrants on the beach, but Paris has until now been wary of halting the small boats at sea due to the risks to passengers.
France will soon begin “control and intervention operations” at sea targeting the small boats, led by France’s maritime prefecture for the Channel and the North Sea (PREMAR). The idea is to move in before passengers board the boats to avoid endangering their lives.
