Too little too late? France to finally build UK-funded detention centre for small boat migrants – three years after it was first announced – but it will only have 140 places
A detention center for Channel migrants will finally be built in France, three years after it was first promised, but there will only be 140 places available.
Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said the French government had agreed to detain small boat migrants on the beaches, transport them to the new center and then deport them.
The deal was first mooted by then-Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak in March 2023, as part of an earlier agreement with Emmanuel Macron’s government.
The new facility in Dunkirk, paid for by British taxpayers, will have a capacity of 140 immigrants.
But by comparison, more than 6,000 people have successfully reached the UK so far this year; 602 of these were done in a single day last week.
The Home Office said the new plan would ‘aim to divert hundreds of small boat migrants away from French beaches every year’.
It remains unclear whether detaining and deporting such a small number of immigrants will deter others from attempting the dangerous crossing.
The center, where more than 100 officers work, is expected to open by the end of this year.
More than 6,000 migrants have successfully reached Britain so far this year, including 602 on a single day last week, and now Labor has announced a detention center with 140 places will be built near Dunkirk.
Meanwhile, the Home Office said the new approach will be ‘trialized using existing capacity’ at a repatriation center in Coquelles, near Calais, from next month.
French police will focus their deportations on the 10 nationals who crossed the English Channel illegally in the largest number.
These are Eritreans, Afghans, Iranians, Sudanese, Somalis, Ethiopians, Iraqis, Syrians, Vietnamese and Yemenis.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Migrants will be sent back to their home country or any other EU country they have passed through.’
Under the £160 million “pay for results” deal between the UK and France announced yesterday, funding will be withdrawn from the program at a later date if it fails.
Home Secretary Ms Mahmood said: ‘This Government is cracking down on illegal small boat crossings.
‘Under this new agreement, we will eliminate those who have no right to be here before they attempt to cross the Channel from this year.
‘We will restore order and control at our borders.’
Migrants boarded a boat for England off Dunkirk in northern France earlier this month
Labor announced yesterday that it would donate £660 million to France for small boat patrols and other measures as part of a new three-year deal.
This will take the total amount of money given to France by British taxpayers since the beginning of the Channel crisis to over £1.3bn.
More than 84,000 migrants have reached Britain across the Channel since the previous three years of the £500 million deal signed between Mr Sunak and Mr Macron.
Around 71,000 migrants have arrived in Britain on small boats since Labor came to power.
One of Sir Keir Starmer’s first acts as Prime Minister was to cancel the previous government’s Rwanda asylum deal, which was designed to deter crossings and save lives by sending Channel migrants to East Africa.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs’ own figures published last year showed Rwanda was discouraging crossings, although transport flights never started.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘More than 70,000 people have crossed illegally since Labor took office; this was a 45 percent increase from before the election, and their response was a facility that housed fewer people than a secondary school.
‘France prevented only a third of boardings last year, but there is nothing to stop these illegal immigrants trying to cross again.
‘Now Labor has handed over £662 million to conditions so poor that the money will only be withdrawn if it cannot deliver “value for money” – a test so vague it means nothing.
‘The only way to fix this is with the Conservative Party’s border plan; Drop the European Convention on Human Rights so we can deport all illegal immigrants within a week of their arrival and then the crossings will soon stop.
‘But Shabana Mahmood and Keir Starmer are too weak to do this.’
Earlier this year Ms Mahmood admitted that the flagship ‘one in, one out’ deal with France launched last summer had ‘clearly not brought the numbers down yet’.
More immigrants were brought into the UK under the reciprocal terms of the agreement than were removed.
The Home Secretary has refused to say how many unsuccessful asylum-seeking families have accepted up to £40,000 to leave Britain voluntarily under another scheme.
It offers prices from £10,000 per person up to a maximum of £40,000 plus flights home.
Many asylum seeker families offered cash assistance live in immigration hotels at an average annual cost of £158,000 per family, and Ms Mahmood insists the benefits will save taxpayers in the long run.
