Under fire France ADMITS it must do more to stop small boats & could even take illegal migrants BACK from UK
FRANCE has finally admitted it needs to start intercepting more small boats — and even raised the possibility of taking illegal migrants back from Britain.
President Emmanuel Macron’s border chief said returning Channel migrants would “send a clear message” not to bother risking their lives.
The French have come under fire for failing to stop the flow, despite being handed £500million by UK taxpayers, with their navy escorting boats across busy shipping lanes until they are picked up by our Border Force.
When challenged by The Sun, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau accepted: “We have to deal with the crossings.
“Up until now, we considered it to be a French doctrine that we would save people on the seas — but that we would take no risk whatsoever.
” So we would accompany the people on the boats.
“I’ve seen a number of videos where the taxi boats come close to the coast to pick up the migrants in water that’s not very deep, and I think that our gendarmes cannot intervene.
“We need to change that doctrine of intervention.”
Of the 150,000 migrants who have crossed since 2018, just three per cent have been deported to their home country. But a “returns deal” could be the deterrent that breaks the smugglers’ business model.
Mr Retailleau said: “I do think that there must be an agreement that we can come to, a bilateral agreement between governments.
“Because we see many of those who land on British soil don’t come back. Even when one has crossed the Channel, if one is sent back that will send a clear message.”
The Minister said other European countries needed to pull their weight in closing smuggling routes too — and singled out Belgium and Germany.
Speaking at the Policy Exchange think tank in London, he insisted trying to smash the smuggling gangs alone was not sufficient. He said: “As we dismantle one, another one crops up.”
Mr Retailleau insisted Home Secretary Yvette Cooper also needs to crack down on illegal working in the UK that helps attracts Channel migrants.
Meanwhile Bas Javid, the Home Office’s head of immigration enforcement, has vowed to ramp up deportations of such workers.
He told The Sun that the Government wanted to show “if you’re working illegally, we’ll catch you and we will remove you from the UK and the employer will get stung with a fine of up to £60,000”.
He believes the number of illegal migrants in the UK are in “the hundreds of thousands”.
CRUSH 'KILL' TRIAL MOVE
Exclusive by Thomas Godfrey in Wimeraux, France
A MAN accused of causing the death of a young girl in a small-boat Channel tragedy is set to be deported to France to go on trial.
Musaab Altijani, 20, was last night facing extradition after seven-year-old Sara Alhashimi, below, and four others died when a dinghy got in difficulties off in April 2024.
The Sudanese was arrested in May in Hillingdon, West London, and District Judge John McGarva ordered his expulsion last week.
French prosecutors are pursuing a charge of involuntary manslaughter over the five deaths.
And he went on: “I’ve personally gone out on visits to car washes, nail bars, barber shops, restaurants and shops such as off licenses.
“And in all of them I’ve seen extremely poor working conditions.
“So there’s a humanity factor here as well about people’s livelihood and safety.”
Mr Javid blasted “abuses” of human rights laws that had seen foreign criminals avoiding being booted out for bizarre reasons.
His boss Ms Cooper is reviewing the UK’s application of the rules, and Mr Javid said:
“I would absolutely welcome that.”
He was backed by Mr Retailleau, who agreed: “The rhetoric of individual rights is often too powerful compared to the collective interests.”
CHANNEL TECH FAIL
A SYSTEM made to spot migrant boats in the Channel costing £1.6billion cannot cope with the numbers coming across, The Sun can reveal.
The high-tech search and rescue aircraft were supposed to spot small boats and alert the coastguard.
But the government said it “cannot meet” demand because it was modelled off data from 2019.
Six years ago, there were 1,843 small boat crossings, with 36,816 last year.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is working to test the UK Second Generation Search and Rescue Aviation (UKSAR2G) against up to date figures.
It was due to be in place from October 2024 to December 2026 but a company has been drafted in — costing £11million.
A government contract reveals: “UKSAR2G cannot address the demand in the Channel.” The MCA was contacted for comment.