Commenting to the JEP, the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service has spoken about its preventative measures following the attempts of 40 migrants to cross the English Channel to the UK on Christmas Day and a further nine people, including three children, trying to reach the coast of Kent in a small inflatable boat on 27 December.
The UK Immigration Minister, Caroline Nokes, has described the frequency of these incidents as ‘deeply concerning’.
And the Home Secretary declared the rising number of migrants attempting to cross the English Channel a ‘major emergency’.
When asked if the Island’s Customs officers had increased their vigilance as a result of the activity in the UK, a spokesman said they were currently monitoring the situation.
‘Officers in the Customs and Immigration Service continue to liaise with both the UK and French authorities on a regular basis in relation to this matter,’ he said. ‘At the present time, intelligence does not indicate that there has been any change in the threat level of migrants travelling to Jersey in small craft. Should intelligence indicate an increased threat, then officers will be deployed accordingly.’
However, a senior UK police officer has warned that the criminals facilitating the attempted crossings are based in France and that further attempts to reach the UK are likely.
‘Our assessment is that more of these types of attempts to reach the UK are likely,’ said Chris Hogben, head of the Invigor taskforce. ‘The organised criminals behind these most recent attempts are in the main not UK-based, but we can say that we are having an impact on them through our close co-operation with the French authorities.’
The Immigration Minister also said that the UK government was maintaining a close watch on the situation in France.
‘We are in close and continual contact with the French authorities and law enforcement partners, including through the new UK-France Co-ordination and Information Centre, which opened in Calais at the end of last month to tackle criminality at the border,’ she said.
Tory MP Charlie Elphicke added that a failure to tackle the situation in France could lead to a re-emergence of the refugee camps in Calais.
‘The criminal gangs behind this need to be caught and brought to justice before these craft leave the French coast,’ he said. ‘If the French fail to act they risk the return of the Calais Jungle and Calais once again becoming a trafficking centre.’
