New UK-French action to go after smuggler gangs

New measures to tackle people-smuggling gangs have been agreed by the UK and France, with over £7 million of existing funds redirected towards a stronger law enforcement response on migrant channel crossings, as ⁠Yvette Cooper meets with French Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau, the first Home Secretary visit to Northern France in almost 5 years.

As part of the ongoing Sandhurst agreement and new joint working between the 2 governments, the ministers have agreed a series of new, stronger enforcement plans from spring, including:

• a new specialist intelligence and judicial police unit in Dunkirk to speed up the arrest and prosecution of people-smugglers
• a new Compagnie de Marche of specialist enforcement officers, similar to the arrangements that were put in place during the Paris Olympics which reduced crossings, supported by increased local policing
• training additional drone pilots to increase operations and intercept planned boats before they reach the sea

The Home Secretary and her French counterpart met in Calais on 27 February to agree new law enforcement action as part of their renewed partnership on tackling small boat crossings in the English Channel.  

This builds on renewed efforts to tackle people smuggling from the two countries, which has seen the UK set up the new Border Security Command led by former Police Chief Martin Hewitt, and the French government appoint a new Special Representative on Migration, Patrick Stefanini.

More than €1.3 million in reallocated funds will provide 12 specialist intelligence officers as part of the judicial police unit, the Groupe d'Appui Operationnel, stationed in Dunkirk. 

This highly specialised unit will focus on disrupting organised immigration crime activity and the flow of small boats equipment, with dual powers to investigate and prosecute people-smugglers, enabling more convictions at a faster rate and ensuring that those responsible face justice.  

Another €2.67 million has been reallocated to mobilise a new policing unit, the Compagnie de Marche. Taking inspiration from the operational response during the Paris Olympics, the unit's officers have elite public order powers to address increases in violence on French beaches. This will enable more dynamic patrols of the shoreline to apprehend smugglers, intercept crossings and prevent loss of life in the channel. 

Additional French reservist officers have been deployed along the coastline since 1 January 2025, showing better co-operation and use of resource between UK and France under the Sandhurst Agreement, which was signed in 2018. In addition, the French Interior Minister has announced police and enforcement presence on transport routes towards the French coast, and €3,980,000 has been reallocated to further increase the number of deployed reservists.  

As the Home Secretary has made clear, and as this new funding approach demonstrates, the UK government is determined to increase cooperation to go after the criminal gangs who are undermining border security and putting countless lives at risk.

While visiting Calais and Le Touquet, the first Home Secretary to do so since 2020, Yvette Cooper met with law enforcement officers and local officials to thank them for their work to prevent boat crossings and to deal with the growing disgraceful violence from criminal gangs against police officers along the coast.

As part of these enhanced measures, €326,500 funding will also be reallocated to supplying crucial safety of life at sea (SOLAS) equipment including surveillance cameras, drones and life jackets.  

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:  

Criminal smuggler gangs are running an appalling and dangerous trade in people – undermining UK and French border security, causing huge damage and putting lives at risk. The gangs operate across borders, so law enforcement needs to operate across borders too. That is why our joint work with France is so important and we are strengthening our cooperation, with new specialist enforcement teams to go after these dangerous gangs. 

These criminal networks operate right across Europe and beyond, and we are determined to increase our joint action working with other countries to stop the gangs and boats before they reach the French coast

I am grateful to my friend and colleague Minister Bruno Retailleau for the close cooperation between our teams and for his continued support and leadership in tackling organised immigration crime. The violence from criminal gangs against French police along the coast is a total disgrace, and I want to thank the French police and authorities for the work they are doing to respond to that violence, to prevent boat crossings and to save lives.

Between 5 July 2024 and 31 January 2025, both illegal working visits and arrests have soared by around 38% compared to the same 12 months prior. During the same period, the Home Office issued a total of 1,090 civil penalty notices to those employing illegal workers. Employers could face a fine of up to £60,000 per worker if found liable. 

In addition, nearly 19,000 foreign criminals and people with no right to be in the UK have now been removed since the government took office.

This renewed co-operation comes amid the introduction of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill under the government's Plan for Change, which creates a framework of new, enhanced powers and offences to improve UK border security and to strengthen the asylum and immigration system.  

It also comes ahead of the government's Border Security Summit, due to take place in London on 31 March and 1 April, to which France and over 40 other countries are invited to discuss solutions to organised immigration crime.