On 28 March, a boat carrying 32 people sank off the coast of Guadeloupe causing 3 deaths and 13 missing. Search operations conducted jointly by the Martinique branch of CROSS Antilles-Guyane and the authorities of Saint Kitts and Nevis are currently underway to find other bodies. An investigation has also been opened by the public prosecutor in Pointe-à-Pitre.
In Beyssenac, Corèze, a new asylum reception centre for 40 people is supposed to open in April. However, a far-right collective called “Sauvons Beyssenac” has been created. It is made up of residents of the town who are opposed to the project.
Between Saturday 18 March and Monday 20 March, 190 people were rescued in the Channel. These people were trying to reach the UK from the French coast. On Saturday 18 March, a boat in difficulty was located by a commercial vessel. A rescue operation was carried out to take the 51 people on board to the port of Calais. On Sunday 19 March, two rescue operations took place: in the morning, 25 people were rescued and taken to Calais, and in the afternoon, 40 migrants were taken in. On Monday 20 March, 49 people were rescued off Calais.
The association France Terre d’Asile analysed the bill “Controlling immigration and improving integration” presented to the Council of Ministers in February 2023. The association also presented its recommendations, including: maintaining collegiality in the examination of asylum applications, opening access to the employment market to all asylum seekers as soon as they submit their application without the obligation to provide a work permit, and providing the National Court of Asylum with all the material and human resources needed to improve the quality of decisions.
The French immigration bill proposed in the beginning of February mentioned the compulsory language test. On 13 March 2023, Didier Leschi, director of the French Office of Immigration and Integration (OFII), clarified that failure of the test would not be synonymous with deportation.
On 10 March, French President Emmanuel Macron met British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. This summit was the first one between the two countries since the Brexit five years ago. They concluded a new agreement to stop the illegal immigration. According to it, the GB will fund more that 500 million of euros1 to (i) create another detention center in Dunkerque, (ii) create another training center to train French and British agents, (iii) increase surveillance technologies.
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