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IMMIGRATION

France rescues 22 migrants heading for Britain

French rescuers saved 22 migrants who found themselves "in difficulty" on the Channel overnight in their bid to get to Britain, French maritime authorities said Sunday.

Published: 25 August 2019 18:56 CEST
France rescues 22 migrants heading for Britain
A file photo of the Channel off Dover. Photo: AFP

“A semi-rigid vessel with 22 migrants”, including a woman and a child, was found to be “in difficulty” off the coast of Dunkirk, a statement said.

The migrants were brought back to Dunkirk, it added.

On the night from Thursday to Friday, 24 migrants were rescued in the Channel.

British interior minister Priti Patel is set to discuss this issue soon with her French counterpart Christophe Castaner following a spike in migrant Channel crossings. 

The crossings are particularly dangerous given the heavy maritime traffic on the Channel as well as strong currents and icy temperatures.

Britain currently has three Border Force cutters in the Channel.

Since January, the country has returned to Europe more than 65 people who arrived illegally in small boats, the interior ministry said.

READ ALSO: Channel migrant crossings in sharp decline: France

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IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

Published: 20 September 2023 09:06 CEST
France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

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