France has deployed nearly 1,000 officers to beaches along its Channel coast as part of efforts to prevent migrants in small boats from crossing into the UK.

The deployment follows the UK-France agreement to crack down on illegal migration and curb small boat crossings through a payment-by-results deal signed in April by the UK Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood.

The deal increases law enforcement, intelligence and military personnel on the French Coast by 40 per cent, alongside two new specialist police units made up of 125 officers.

They include the Compagnie de Marche, a 75-member unit tasked with breaking up launch attempts and pursuing smuggling gangs, and the Compagnie républicaine de sécurité (CRS), a permanent 50-officer riot police unit trained in crowd control and public order operations. 

The officers are supported with enhanced surveillance technology to detect and disrupt illegal crossings. 

The UK Home Office said the deployment builds on efforts that have curbed over 46,000 attempts to cross the Channel by migrants since July 2024, with almost 60 per cent of all crossings stopped before they reached the UK’s borders.