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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
World
RFI

France-UK deal linked to seven-year low in Channel migrant crossings

French police beside migrants disembarking from the French rescue ship Argonaute following their rescue at sea after their boat caught fire during an attempt to cross the English Channel from France to Britain, at the Port de Commerce in Boulogne-sur-Mer, northern France, on 4 August 2026.
French police beside migrants disembarking from the French rescue ship Argonaute following their rescue at sea after their boat caught fire during an attempt to cross the English Channel from France to Britain, at the Port de Commerce in Boulogne-sur-Mer, northern France, on 4 August 2026. © AFP/Sameer al-Doumy

France and the UK saw the number of small boats carrying migrants across the English Channel fall to its lowest summer level since 2019, with London crediting a new enforcement deal between the two countries.

Successive British governments have struggled to curb the rise in small boat crossings, which have become an increasingly contentious issue among voters since they began to increase sharply around 2018.

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