ZUYDCOOTE, France: A new multi-million-euro agreement was signed between the United Kingdom and France late last week, increasing police patrols and improving surveillance in northern France to reduce the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.
U.K. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez officially approved a three-year agreement during a joint visit to the Dunkirk area.
Mahmood said the deal brings the right skills and resources to help reduce migrant crossings from French beaches. Nuñez said it will help fight illegal immigration and human trafficking networks, which are very harmful.
Under the deal, the U.K. will provide £500 million to improve security in northern France, with an additional £160 million if the new measures prove effective. If they don't work, the extra funding will stop after one year.
The plan includes increasing the number of officers from 907 to 1,392 between 2026 and 2029, and creating a new police unit in France to tackle illegal migration.
It will also use new technology to stop "taxi boats" — small motorized boats used by smugglers to pick up migrants along the coast. These boats usually start empty and collect migrants from beaches at planned spots.
The agreement also expands surveillance using drones, helicopters, and electronic monitoring to prevent crossings.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that cooperation with France has already stopped many crossings and that nearly 60,000 people without the right to stay have been removed from the U.K.
Since coming to power, Starmer's government has introduced several policies to reduce immigration.
Small boat crossings have become a major political issue in the U.K., leading to protests and helping the rise of Reform UK. This hard-right party has been leading in opinion polls and is expected to gain seats in upcoming elections.
The new measures also allow authorities to seize smugglers' assets, improve border surveillance, and increase cooperation with other countries.
It is still unclear how effective these policies are. So far this year, over 6,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to the U.K., which is 36 percent fewer than last year, possibly due to bad weather.
The real test will come in the coming months when the weather improves. In 2025, over 41,000 people crossed the Channel this way, the second-highest number since records began in 2018.
