Britain pays France $74 million to stem the flow of migrants

ARK News… France and the United Kingdom, on Monday, signed a new agreement to work together to stop migrants crossing the Channel to England on small boats, which has caused great tension between the two neighboring countries.

Under the agreement signed in Paris between French Interior Minister Gerald Darmannan and his British counterpart Suella Braverman, Britain will pay France 72.2 million euros ($74.5 million) in 2022-2023, for the French authorities to increase by 40% the number of members of its security forces who patrol the shores of northern France. According to the French Ministry of the Interior.

The British government, on Sunday, announced that more than 40,000 migrants crossed the Channel into Britain this year, a new record. The British Ministry of Defense said that the initial total number of crossings, this year, reached 40,885 refugees; Most of them are Albanians, Iranians, and Afghans, compared to 28,561 refugees last year, indicating a significant increase.

The ministry added that about 972 people were monitored, on Saturday, on 22 boats, as they were crossing on a perilous journey. And the numbers have been rising for years, from 299 refugees who crossed in 2018 to 1,843 in 2019, and 8,466 in 2020, according to British statistics.

The numbers have continued to climb despite several British initiatives, including a plan to return migrants to Rwanda that has been blocked by the British judiciary. And last week, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that a new plan was being prepared with France, after his first direct meeting with President Emmanuel Macron.

In Friday's talks, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and her British counterpart James Cleverly stressed "the urgency to address all forms of illegal immigration, including the transit of small boats, and its root causes," according to a joint statement.

The rising numbers of migrants have increased asylum claims and accommodation costs, which the UK government estimates at 6.8 million pounds ($7.8 million) a day, exhausting the efforts of service providers and angering Britons.

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that Britain's "generosity" was being "abused" by economic migrants who were "asylum-shopping" across Europe. He added, "You must end (Britain's Hotel) and replace it with simple and functional accommodation, which does not create an additional attraction."

The British government is looking at alternatives to housing asylum seekers in hotel rooms, including moving them to abandoned student accommodation or budget cruise ships, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

But refugee groups accuse the government of taking a harsh and messy approach, after an outbreak of the disease in an overcrowded asylum processing center in Manston, south-east England.

Officials said the migrants at the facility were being vaccinated against diphtheria due to the high incidence of the highly contagious disease.

Jenrick pointed out the importance of closer relations with France, and the new partnership will see Britain providing about 80 million pounds to Paris; In order to strengthen joint actions and operations against human trafficking gangs.

154