Both the UK and French Governments remain committed to further joint action to achieve our common goals under the strong UK-French partnership on migration.
Discussions are ongoing for the construction of a secure facility in the UK control zone to replace our existing facility. This will hold and process illegal immigrants found by UK Border Agency officials and their contractors, for short periods, until they can be handed over to the French border police and processed under French law. All details, including financing, are still under discussion between officials.
We continue to develop a package of measures to target, dismantle and prosecute the networks of facilitators and traffickers who exploit illegal immigrants. These measures include world leading technology, enhanced intelligence and closer working between all agencies.
We are concerned about the humanitarian situation faced by individuals in the Calais region and will provide support to those in genuine need. However, the message is clear—the only way to live and work in France and the UK is by legal routes.
From 1 January to 31 August 2009 a total of 15,753 individual attempts to enter the UK illegally were detected at the freight and tourist controls at the ferry port in Calais. The totals for each month were as follows:
Total January 2,097 February 2,395 March 2,244 April 2,177 May 1,801 June 1,555 July 1,780 August 1,704 Total 15,753 Note: These figures have been sourced from locally collated management information held within locally accessed computer systems and do not represent National Statistics. They have not been the subject of National Statistics protocols and verification and should therefore be treated as provisional and subject to change.