Britain to pay France nearly $890 million to combat illegal migration

Britain will pay France £660 million (nearly $890 million) to strengthen control over illegal migrant crossings of the English Channel.

This is stated in an agreement signed by the UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and her French counterpart Laurent Nuñez.

"As part of the new partnership, £500 million will be invested in strengthening the control system in northern France, while an additional £161 million will be allocated to fund new measures based on their effectiveness in preventing border crossings," the statement notes.

The funds will primarily be used to increase the number of police officers patrolling the coast of northern France, from where migrants attempt to reach British shores on inflatable boats. According to the announced plans, their number will rise by approximately 53%—from 907 in 2023-2026 to 1,400 in 2026-2029.

The agreement replaces a previous deal worth £478 million, which was set for three years and expired on March 31. However, this did not halt the flow of migrants—in the past year, their numbers increased compared to the two previous years. In total, in 2025, nearly 41,500 people arrived illegally in the UK this way, with the majority being citizens of Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, and Somalia. This figure is only lower than the peak of 2022 (46,000), but higher than in 2024 (36,800) and 2023 (29,400). Since the beginning of this year, 6,000 illegal migrants have arrived in the UK via the English Channel, with numbers exceeding 600 on some days.

Source: TASS