French plan to intercept migrant boats at sea faces legal threat

Telegraph

19-06-2025

French plans to intercept people smugglers guiding small boats at sea – so-called 'taxi boats' – could be blocked by legal action.
The charity that successfully helped block Dame Priti Patel's plans to turn back migrant boats in the Channel has said it is ready to support any migrants or organisations seeking to mount a court challenge.
Care4Calais, which also launched the first legal challenge to the Tories' Rwanda deportation plan, said it had not ruled out mounting a court action itself against the 'dangerous' tactics.
The move comes as France prepares to start intercepting migrant 'taxi boats' at sea for the first time.
The tactics have yet to be finalised but are expected to see border police, gendarmes and coastguard vessels stop boats from leaving waters within 300 metres of the coastline.
It is thought they will aim to intercept the 'taxi boats' packed with migrants not only in shallow waters as they leave the beaches but also when they make their way from rivers and inland waterways, often miles away, to pick up the asylum seekers.
Until now, France has refused to intervene in the water because it claims maritime laws prevent it from taking action that could put lives at sea at risk.
But government ministers overseeing migration policy have given the green light to do so while 'respecting' the 'law of the sea'.
It comes as the number of Channel migrants reaching the UK passed 40,000 since Labour took power last year.
Some 489 people arrived in eight boats on Tuesday, bringing the total since the general election in July 2024 to 40,276.
A record 17,034 have crossed this year – the highest number at this point since the first arrivals in 2018 and up nearly 40 per cent on the same point last year.
Steve Smith, the chief executive of Care4Calais and a former Army colonel, said it would be 'dangerous' to try to intercept the boats even with just a few people-smugglers on board as they steered the dinghies to the beaches to pick up the migrants.
'It would be impossibly dangerous if you were to try to stop them when there are women and children on board or trying to get on board. Some of the drownings that have happened have been very, very close to the coast, within a stone's throw,' he said.
'If it happens when they are not trying to ram you or intercept you, what is going to happen when they do try to do so. It is almost certainly going to result in deaths.'
Mr Smith said that if an organisation or individual came forward seeking to mount a legal challenge, 'we would support them and offer advice', as the charity had done in successful legal challenges to the Tories' Rwanda policy and the housing of migrants in the former RAF base at Wethersfield, in Essex.
He added: 'It is not beyond the realms of possibility that we take it on ourselves, but it is more likely we would support claimants.'
Care4Calais joined the Border Force union and other charities to successfully force the Home Office in 2022 to drop its plans to push back migrant boats at sea after seeking judicial review of the policy for breaching the Refugee Convention, and human rights act.
The French interior ministry insisted that any attempts to intercept the 'taxi boats' will respect the principles of the UN Convention on the law of the Sea. It creates a duty for all ship captains to rescue anyone in danger at sea, regardless of their nationality or status.
France is aiming for the tactics to be in place in time for the Franco-British summit, which begins on July 8, when Emmanuel Macron, the French president, will travel to London for a state visit.