London-The United Kingdom announced Thursday that it has placed in detention the first migrants arrived on small boats and intended to be sent “in the coming weeks” to France within the framework of the Franco-British treaty entered into force on Wednesday.
This new treaty, announced during the state visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to the United Kingdom in July, aims to dissuade people wishing to cross the Channel on precarious and crowded boats, organized by smuggling networks.
“People who arrived in the United Kingdom on a boat yesterday noon were placed in detention. They will be placed in administrative detention centers pending their expulsion, “the Ministry of the Interior said in a statement on Thursday.
He does not specify how many migrants have been arrested, nor how much he intends to return to migrants to France as part of this device criticized by NGOs and which leaves the opposition to the Labor Government.
According to London, the first evictions should take place “in the coming weeks”.
The United Kingdom will transmit within three days to France the names of the arrested migrants it wishes to expel, and the French authorities will have 14 days to answer, details the Home Office.
“When I promised that I will not back down to nothing to secure our borders, I was serious,” said Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is under pressure to stem these migrant arrivals.
The system is a pilot project valid until June 2026.
Anxious to show that he acts to stem the phenomenon of the arrivals of migrants by the English Channel, the Labor government has multiplied initiatives since coming to power in July 2024.
He signed several cooperation agreements with other countries (Germany, Iraq, etc.), strengthened the means of the border police to combat the smuggling networks, or even in -depth the long -standing cooperation established with France.
Keir Starmer, who abandoned the conservative project to expel asylum seekers to Rwanda, is under pressure from the anti-immigration party Reform UK, to increasing popularity.
«Important stages»
A record number of more than 25,400 people have arrived in the United Kingdom aboard “Small Boats” since the start of the year, up 49% over a year.
And 18 people have died since January by trying these dangerous crossings of the English Channel, according to data from the French Ministry of the Interior.
Recognizing that it will take time “to dismantle the smuggling networks,” these detentions are an important step to undermine their economic model and their false promises, “said Interior Minister Yvette Cooper, quoted in the press release.
The treaty is based on a principle of “one for one”. France will take up migrants who arrived in the United Kingdom by “Small Boat” and whose asylum request is not considered eligible because they have previously passed through a country considered “safe”, according to the home office.
Unaccompanied minors cannot be returned to France.
In the other direction, London will accept people in France and have made a request on an online platform, by giving priority to those with links with the United Kingdom.
This platform has been operational since Thursday on the British government’s website Thursday.
London and Paris insisted that the new arrivals will be submitted on both sides of the round to a complete security examination.
Marie Heuclin
© Agence France-Presse
