In response to Monday’s record-breaking 1,295 migrant crossing of the English Channel, France accused the UK of failing to provide the £8 million it had pledged to pay for beach patrols.
According to French police, migrants who arrive on beaches in “a flash-mob fashion,” often in their hundreds, overwhelm patrol agents and sometimes start to act violently.
Despite the fact that roughly 800 patrols are conducted daily over a 100-mile stretch of the northern French coast, a large number of boats still leave from the French shore.
390 migrants trying to cross were stopped, according to the French local administration for Calais, on the day more than 1,200 made it to the UK.
Smugglers are attempting to get rid of their backlog after inclement weather made it impossible for boats to go for many days, which has contributed to the increase of crossings.
Later in the year, when the going is harsher, it is also harder to make the crossing.
Since many of the French officials tasked with stopping boats bound for the UK are also on vacation, it will be considerably simpler for the boats to elude notice.
The Home Secretary Priti Patel has signed agreements worth more than £80 million with France over the last three years in an effort to fight the expanding issue.
The UK has been charged with failing to pay France more than £8 million for beach patrols it conducts to seek for migrants trying to cross the English Channel.
The agreements aimed to reduce crossings by boosting patrols and supplying technology for monitoring along the French coast.
The Hauts-de-France prefecture, which is in charge of the patrol police, stated in a statement sent to The Times that the British still owed €10 million ($8.4 million), or £8.4 million.
The communication office for the area stated: “The issues are made worse by the British not paying back the expenses made to help defend the border as well as the security of the migrants.
“As of today, GB owes France many million euros, including about €10 million to cover the cost of the reserve gendarmes and the helicopter surveillance.”
More than 60% of attempted crossings were reportedly halted this year, but in certain locations under “high strain,” their capacity to identify and prevent crossing has been exhausted.
The overall number of crossings so far this year has been provisionally estimated at 22,670; the actual number was 28,526 last year.
The Home Office will honour “every every pound” it has pledged to pay the French, sources told The Times.
Another setback is that Priti Patel’s Rwanda asylum plan is expected to be indefinitely on hold as a result of a court challenge by the union that represents UK Border Force personnel.
The Public and Commercial Services Union has filed a court review of the Rwanda programme, which is scheduled to commence on September 5. They have done this in conjunction with a number of migrant organisations.
In October, a second hearing will be held about a challenge submitted by another charity, Asylum Aid.
They will both examine the legality of the government’s plan to provide migrants who cross the Channel a one-way ticket to Rwanda so they may apply for asylum there rather than in Britain.
Aboard June 14, a last-minute intervention by the European Court of Human Rights forced the first effort to remove refugees on a charter aircraft to Kigali to be abandoned within 30 minutes of takeoff.
Removals to Rwanda cannot take place until a thorough examination of the policy has been completed by the UK’s domestic courts, according to a Strasbourg judge working after hours whose name has not yet been made public.
Another factor contributing to the ongoing rise in the number of migrants crossing the English Channel is the increased effort made by Albanian criminal organisations to smuggle individuals into the UK.
More than 700, or almost 60%, of the record-breaking 1,295 migrants that arrived in Britain on Monday were Albanian.
Although there hasn’t been a war in Albania in more for 25 years—a Nato ally with aspirations to join the EU—the number of people making the border is rising “exponentially.”
By tiny boat, more than 5,000 Albanians have travelled across the English Channel so far this year.
The weather, according to Lucy Moreton of the ISU union that represents Border Force officers, is the immediate cause of the high volume of crossings.
It was flat quiet yesterday and is remaining mostly peaceful today, she added.
Although crossings do not halt when the wave height rises, they do become less frequent as fall approaches.
Ms. Moreton suggested that the three-day break in crossings, which was assumed to be caused by bad weather over the weekend, may be the cause of the Monday increase in traffic.
According to a government source who spoke to The Times, smugglers may be attempting to get rid of a “backlog” of individuals who have been waiting to go.
However, Ms. Moreton noted that the crossing had also developed into a “quite safe and effective method of illegal migration into the UK,” adding that it was “much more assured” than attempting to elude detection by hiding in a truck.
The possibility of being transferred to Rwanda is not at all deterrent; rather, it encourages crossings since smugglers urge people to leave before the policy is implemented.
A main priority for the future Prime Minister will be to persuade the French to really stop these vessels from departing and to apprehend those involved, according to Dover MP Natalie Elphicke
“We cannot let the Channel crossings to continue in this manner.”
“The French demanded millions of pounds in exchange for their pledge to settle this situation. However, it is obvious that they have not kept their word since there are now more people visiting our beaches than before.
Chairman of Migration Watch UK, Alp Mehmet, commented, saying: “Savage budget and staff cutbacks caused the enforcement of immigration regulations to fail. When will this snarl be resolved?
The next prime minister should consider “hard” solutions to the issue and abstain from “meaningless blather,” Mr. Mehmet said.
It occurs as five African countries are reportedly in “advanced negotiations” with the UK about an agreement similar to that of Rwanda.
According to The Times, Morocco, Nigeria, Namibia, Niger, and Ghana are all in talks with the government about taking in refugees whose applications for asylum in the UK were denied.