Immigration: Retailleau ready to engage in a “standoff” with London

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on Friday that he was ready to engage in a “standoff” with London over migrants seeking the United Kingdom at the cost of clandestine Channel crossings that have already caused 72 deaths this year.

A few days before a meeting with his British counterpart, Yvette Cooper, expected on December 9 in Pas-de-Calais, he called on the United Kingdom not to be satisfied with delegating the “guarding” of its border to France.

“Brexit has destroyed all migration relations” with the British government, he lamented during a trip to Ambleteuse in Pas-de-Calais, calling for “a legal admission route with criteria in economic terms, family reunification”.

“There is a showdown to be had. I hope we don't get to that point, but we have to change this relationship”, said Mr Retailleau, who will travel to London on 10 December for a meeting bringing together representatives from the Netherlands, Germany and Ireland, in addition to France and the United Kingdom.

“The showdown is quite simple, it is at some point, if things do not progress, we will denounce the Touquet agreements” signed between London and Paris, he threatened. Since 2004, these agreements have established controls on French soil for people leaving for the United Kingdom.

“Those responsible for these tragedies are the smugglers and the British,” hammered out alongside him the president of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand (LR), accusing the latter of taking advantage of a workforce paid “peanuts”.

– Security reinforcements –

The subject of immigration, both legal and illegal, is sensitive for the new Labour government, which announced on Thursday a “plan” to reduce arrivals, toughening the conditions for hiring foreign workers and sanctions for companies in breach of visa rules.

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On the French side, Mr. Retailleau announced police reinforcements, the appointment of a special representative on Immigration to the ministry, and a mission to combat illegal immigration on the coast, entrusted to the new delegated prefect for defense and security in Hauts-de-France, Vincent Lagoguey.

A prefect specifically tasked with this mission was one of the demands of a group of coastal mayors that Mr. Retailleau met for this first trip to the area since taking office in September.

Around 200 additional people will be deployed to reinforce the local teams of the Office for the Fight against Illicit Trafficking of Migrants (Oltim), the border police (PAF), the police stations of Calais and Dunkirk, or to intervene on buses and trains.

Mayors say they are helpless in the face of the saturation of public transport, used both by residents and migrants trying to reach the beaches.

Mr Retailleau will also ask London to co-finance a compensation fund for local residents and businesses whose property has been damaged.

He also wants British financial aid for local firefighters, 12% of whose interventions are linked to the migration crisis, and for the sea rescue company (SNSM), which according to him has carried out 5,500 rescues since the beginning of the year.

The mayor of Calais Natacha Bouchart (various right) welcomed the fact that several measures requested by local elected officials had been “validated” by the Minister of the Interior.

“But (…) if we don't treat the cause, it's hard to heal,” she added, also pointing the finger at the British “who have forced us to have to endure, for them, for so many years, the hypocritical regulation of their immigration.”

A record number of at least 72 would-be exiles have died since January 1 while trying to reach England by sea, according to the Pas-de-Calais prefecture. “A tragedy, not tolerable,” said Mr. Retailleau.

An association helping migrants expressed concern about the minister's announcements, seeing them as “the continuation of the militarization of the coastline” despite “the ineffectiveness of this policy.”

“The United Kingdom has already criminalized people who arrived illegally, which has had no impact on departures,” stressed Flore Judet, coordinator of the Auberge des Migrants.

The associations are calling for an increase in sea rescue resources “so that the Channel stops being a cemetery.”

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