New step in the fight against illegal immigration. The Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin signed Sunday in Calais (Pas-de-Calais) with his British counterpart Priti Patel a convention creating "a Franco-British intelligence unit" in the fight against smugglers of migrants.
Six French and six British police officers in this cell
"For the first time, six British police officers then six French police officers, in Coquelles, will be able to work upstream on the fight against the smugglers", he affirmed during a press point near the old "Jungle" from Calais. The smugglers "are those who take advantage of the human distress of people who want to cross the Channel and who, no doubt today, are not yet sufficiently penalized", he continued after his first visit to Calais as Minister of the Interior.
Accompanied by his Minister responsible for Citizenship, Marlène Schiappa, he notably met there with his British counterpart, Priti Patel and the Assistant Minister for Immigration, Chris Philip. This “pre-judicial” phase will be implemented “immediately”. "We will help the people of Calaisis, the whole coastline and the police forces" to "be in touch with our British friends in a return to tranquility", he assured.
This convention aims to “create a Franco-British intelligence unit. It will allow our respective services to share in an operational manner the information they hold, in particular on the smugglers' networks, ”said Gérald Darmanin on Twitter.
Signing of an agreement with @pritipatel to create a Franco-British intelligence unit.
It will allow our respective services to share in an operational manner the information they hold, in particular on the smugglers' channels. pic.twitter.com/zI4XFN00Hl
45 migrants rescued at sea
On Sunday, 45 migrants whose boats were in difficulty were rescued in the English Channel while trying to reach Great Britain. The previous day, 21 other people had been rescued.
It is "important for our British friends to realize" that if the migrants come here to Calais, it is "to cross the Channel and we reminded the Minister that we need additional resources, the British government has done a lot to protect the coast, but we still need more resources, both for equipment and for men, ”insisted the Minister of the Interior.
On Friday, state services and the police expelled more than 500 migrants from an industrial area in Calais and took them to reception or administrative detention centers.
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- Society
- Gérald Darmanin
- Ministry of the Interior
- Immigration
- Illegal immigration