PARIS: Paris and London are discussing a trial to deport undocumented migrants from the United Kingdom to France in exchange for allowing others to join family in Britain, France’s interior ministry said Thursday.
The United Kingdom is seeking to crack down on migrants crossing the Channel from France to England on flimsy rubber dinghies in search of a better life.
France and Britain have pledged to step up the fight against people smugglers who enable the sometimes deadly crossings.
Both sides are discussing “a trial,” France’s interior ministry said.
It would be carried out “on a one-for-one basis of a legal entry for family reunification in exchange for (France) readmitting undocumented migrants who managed to cross” the Channel to the United Kingdom.
“Setting up legal routes, as well as re-entries (to France) to discourage migrant smuggling networks, are part of possible solutions,” it added.
Asked for comment, the British Home Office said the United Kingdom, France and other European countries were “exploring fresh and innovative measures to dismantle the business models of the criminal smuggling gangs.”
Last year, more than 36,800 people crossed the Channel, up 25 percent from 2023, according to British figures.
According to French authorities, 78 migrants died in 2024 while trying to reach England aboard small boats, a record since the start of the trend in this area in 2018.
The United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands in December agreed to boost cooperation against irregular migration.
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France, UK mull migrant swaps in bid to stem Channel crossings
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France, UK mull migrant swaps in bid to stem Channel crossings
- France and Britain have pledged to step up the fight against people smugglers who enable the sometimes deadly crossings
Fire breaks out in Seoul’s last-remaining shanty town
SEOUL: A fire on Friday in one of Seoul’s last-remaining shanty towns burned makeshift houses and forced dozens of residents to flee, but no casualties were immediately reported.
Much of the fire was under control about 6 1/2 hours after the blaze broke out in Guryong village in southern Seoul, fire officials said.
Local fire officer Jeong Gwang-hun told a televised briefing that rescuers were searching each house in the burned area to look for possible victims.
More than 1,200 personnel including firefighters and police officers were deployed to the scene, he said, adding the cause of the fire was under investigation.
The hillside village has occasionally had fires over the years, a vulnerability that observers say is linked to its tightly packed homes built with materials that easily burn.
The village is located near some of Seoul’s most expensive neighborhoods, with towering high-rise apartments and lavish shopping districts, and has long been a symbol of South Korea’s stark income inequalities.
The village was formed in the 1980s as a settlement for people who were evicted from their original neighborhoods under massive house clearings and redevelopment projects.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the city were removed from their homes in slums and low-income settlements during those years, a process then military-backed leaders saw as crucial in beautifying the city for foreign visitors ahead of the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
Much of the fire was under control about 6 1/2 hours after the blaze broke out in Guryong village in southern Seoul, fire officials said.
Local fire officer Jeong Gwang-hun told a televised briefing that rescuers were searching each house in the burned area to look for possible victims.
More than 1,200 personnel including firefighters and police officers were deployed to the scene, he said, adding the cause of the fire was under investigation.
The hillside village has occasionally had fires over the years, a vulnerability that observers say is linked to its tightly packed homes built with materials that easily burn.
The village is located near some of Seoul’s most expensive neighborhoods, with towering high-rise apartments and lavish shopping districts, and has long been a symbol of South Korea’s stark income inequalities.
The village was formed in the 1980s as a settlement for people who were evicted from their original neighborhoods under massive house clearings and redevelopment projects.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the city were removed from their homes in slums and low-income settlements during those years, a process then military-backed leaders saw as crucial in beautifying the city for foreign visitors ahead of the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
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