UK minister rebuffs Trump on military plan to stop Channel crossings

A Cabinet minister dismissed Donald Trump’s suggestion to use the military to stop Channel boats, saying UK Border Force is responsible for border security and can call on the Royal Navy if needed, though forces should remain focused on what he called the country’s “really key issues around the world.”

The comments followed Mr. Trump’s joint press conference during a State Visit, in which he urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer to take tougher action on small-boat crossings. He warned that illegal immigration “destroys countries from within,” and said the United States had secured its borders after a period of strong enforcement. Keir Starmer, meanwhile, highlighted a “renewed” Special Relationship as he faced questions about migration during the visit.

Business Secretary Peter Kyle told BBC Breakfast that Trump’s call for deploying the military was not a policy direction in Britain. “Well, what he suggested was the military are used, but we have the UK Border Force that is now established and has been reinforced and bolstered and have new powers under this Government. The Navy actually does have a working relationship with the UK Border Force, and the Navy can be called upon if needed,” Kyle said. “What we really need at the moment is our military focused on all of those really key issues around the world, directly relating to our national defence.”

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The day’s events underscored the political pressure on Sir Keir to curb migrant crossings after a summer of protests over asylum hotels. Hundreds more people were headed for Britain today, while just one migrant was deported under Labour’s “one-in, one-out” deal with Emmanuel Macron. A small-boat migrant was flown to France on a commercial jet this morning, the second to be deported since the July agreement was signed amid high-profile fanfare. Migrants were seen heading out to sea from Gravelines, with Border Force later bringing several ashore at Dover.

The Eritrean migrant deported today claimed to be an alleged trafficking victim, and his barristers sought interim relief on grounds of potential human-rights breaches if deportation proceeded. The bid failed, and he was pictured boarding an Air France flight from London Heathrow to Paris, where French police officers escorted him from the aircraft. He is expected to be taken to a migrant accommodation centre in France, where he will have eight days to claim asylum or return to Eritrea. He said he felt “very bad” to be back in France and did not know what to do.

The first migrant deported under the Macron deal, an Indian man, was flown from London to Paris yesterday morning after three days of legal limbo, marking the beginning of a new pathway that policymakers hope will reduce arrivals across the Channel.