UK moves its border to France

British immigration officers have set up camp in the French port of Calais in an attempt to reduce the number of illegal immigrants reaching the UK, and will eventually be based in all French ports along the English Channel. While there has always been a British immigration presence in France, and vice versa, The Independent newspaper reports that the new scheme, which was launched at the weekend, will “increase their numbers and extend their sphere of operations”. Under current rules, asylum seekers cannot be sent away from the UK until their application for asylum has been processed, whereas under the new arrangement, suspected illegal immigrants can be held for 24 hours in a UK “holding area” near the French port. After that time, the newspaper states, any travellers whose papers are not “in order” can be handed over to French police. The Home Office minister Beverley Hughes is quoted as saying: “With the measures we are announcing, we are effectively moving our borders across the Channel. UK immigration officers will be able to stop would-be illegal immigrants even before they set off for the UK.” A team of French officers will also be situated in Calais, but as The Independent points out, “since there is no significant flow of illegal immigrants from Kent to the Pas de Calais, this is mostly a piece of diplomatic window dressing to prevent criticism in France”.