France's Macron makes a state visit to the UK with migration and Ukraine on the agenda
Macron and Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also try to advance plans for a post-ceasefire security force for Ukraine, despite apparent U.S. indifference to the idea and Russia's refusal to halt the onslaught on its neighbor.
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Toronto Star
12 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Britain and France try again to tackle English Channel migrant crossings
LONDON (AP) — After the bonhomie and banquets of a formal state visit, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron are turning to a topic that has stymied successive British and French governments: how to stop migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats. At a U.K.-France summit on Thursday that caps Macron's three-day stay, senior officials from the two countries will try to seal deals on economic growth, defense cooperation and – perhaps trickiest of all – unauthorized migration.
Winnipeg Free Press
22 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Britain and France try again to tackle English Channel migrant crossings
LONDON (AP) — After the bonhomie and banquets of a formal state visit, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron are turning to a topic that has stymied successive British and French governments: how to stop migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats. At a U.K.-France summit on Thursday that caps Macron's three-day stay, senior officials from the two countries will try to seal deals on economic growth, defense cooperation and – perhaps trickiest of all – unauthorized migration. Macron and Starmer also will visit a military base and dial in to a planning meeting of the ' coalition of the willing, ' a U.K.- and France-backed plan for an international force to guarantee a future ceasefire in Ukraine. During a meeting inside 10 Downing St. on Wednesday, the two leaders agreed that tackling small boat crossings 'is a shared priority that requires shared solutions, including a new deterrent to break the business model' of people-smuggling gangs, Starmer's office said. It said they would aim for 'concrete progress' on Thursday. Channel crossings are a longstanding challenge Britain receives fewer asylum-seekers than Mediterranean European countries, but sees thousands of very visible arrivals each year as migrants cross the 20-mile (32 kilometer) channel from northern France in small, overcrowded boats. About 37,000 people were detected crossing the channel in 2024, and more than 20,000 made the crossing in the first six months of 2025, up by about 50% from the same period last year. Dozens of people have died trying to reach the English coast. Britain and France agree the dangerous and unregulated crossings are a problem, but have long differed on how to address it. The U.K. wants France to do more to stop boats leaving the beaches, and has paid the Paris government hundreds of millions of pounds (dollars, euros) to increase patrols and share intelligence in an attempt to disrupt the smuggling gangs. 'We share information to a much greater extent than was the case before,' Starmer told lawmakers in the House of Commons on Wednesday. 'We've got a new specialist intelligence unit in Dunkirk and we're the first government to persuade the French to review their laws and tactics on the north coast to take more effective action.' Macron says Britain must address 'pull factors' like the perception it is easy for unauthorized migrants to find work in the U.K. Many migrants also want to reach Britain because they have friends or family there, or because they speak English. Solutions have proved elusive As far back as 2001, the two countries were discussing ways to stop migrants stowing away on trains and trucks using the tunnel under the channel. Over the following years, French authorities cleared out camps near Calais where thousands of migrants gathered before trying to reach Britain. Beefed up security sharply reduced the number of vehicle stowaways, but from about 2018 people-smugglers offered migrants a new route by sea. 'You see that pattern again and again, where smuggling gangs and migrants try to find new ways to cross from France to the U.K.,' said Mihnea Cuibus, a researcher at the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory. 'The authorities crack down on that, and then gradually you see migrants and gangs try to adapt to that. And it becomes a bit of a game of cat and mouse.' Cooperation on stopping the boats stalled after Britain's acrimonious split from the European Union in 2020, but in the past few years the countries have struck several agreements that saw the U.K. pay France to increase police and drone patrols of the coast. Britain's previous Conservative government came up with a contentious plan in 2022 to deport asylum-seekers arriving by boat to Rwanda. Critics called it unworkable and unethical, and it was scrapped by Starmer soon after he took office in July 2024. Britain hopes for a returns deal with France Starmer is staking success on closer cooperation with France and with countries further up the migrants' routes from Africa and the Middle East. British officials have been pushing for French police to intervene more forcefully to stop boats once they have left the shore, and welcomed the sight of officers slashing rubber dinghies with knives in recent days. France is also considering a U.K. proposal for a 'one-in, one-out' deal that would see France take back some migrants who reached Britain, in return for the U.K. accepting migrants seeking to join relatives in Britain. Macron said the leaders would aim for 'tangible results' on an issue that's 'a burden for our two countries.' Cuibus said irregular cross-channel migration would likely always be a challenge, but that the measures being discussed by Britain and France could make an impact, 'if they're implemented in the right way. 'But that's a big if,' he said.
Winnipeg Free Press
22 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
New Hampshire judge to hear arguments on class action against Trump's birthright citizenship order
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A federal judge in New Hampshire will hear arguments Thursday on whether to certify a class-action lawsuit that would include every baby affected by President Donald Trump's restrictions on birthright citizenship. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a pregnant woman, two parents and their infants, is among numerous cases challenging Trump's January order denying citizenship to those born to parents living in the U.S. illegally or temporarily. Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and others, the plaintiffs are seeking to have their case certified as a class action and to block implementation of the order while litigation continues. 'Tens of thousands of babies and their parents may be exposed to the order's myriad harms in just weeks and need an injunction now,' lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote in court documents filed Tuesday. At issue is the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which states: 'All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.' The Trump administration says the phrase 'subject to the jurisdiction thereof' means the U.S. can deny citizenship to babies born to women in the country illegally, ending what has been seen as an intrinsic part of U.S. law for more than a century. 'Prior misimpressions of the citizenship clause have created a perverse incentive for illegal immigration that has negatively impacted this country's sovereignty, national security, and economic stability,' government lawyers wrote in the New Hampshire case. 'The Constitution does not harbor a windfall clause granting American citizenship to … the children of those who have circumvented (or outright defied) federal immigration laws.' Legal battles continue in multiple states Several federal judges have issued nationwide injunctions stopping Trump's order from taking effect, but the U.S. Supreme Court limited those injunctions in a June 27 ruling that gave lower courts 30 days to act. With that time frame in mind, opponents of the change quickly returned to court to try to block it. New Jersey and the more than dozen states joining its case in Massachusetts federal court have asked the judge to determine if the nationwide injunction in their case could still apply under the high court's ruling. The judge has scheduled a hearing for July 18. 'Everybody knows there's a 30-day clock, so our hope is that we get an answer prior to the end of the 30-day clock,' New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin told The Associated Press in a recent interview. In a Washington state case before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the judges have asked the parties to write briefs explaining the effect of the Supreme Court's ruling. Washington and the other states in that lawsuit have asked the appeals court to return the case to the lower court judge. As in New Hampshire, the plaintiff in a Maryland seeks to organize a class-action lawsuit that includes every person who would be affected by the order. The judge set a Wednesday deadline for written legal arguments as she considers the request for another nationwide injunction from CASA, a nonprofit immigrant rights organization. Ama Frimpong, legal director at CASA, said the group has been stressing to its members and clients that it is not time to panic. 'No one has to move states right this instant,' she said. 'There's different avenues through which we are all fighting, again, to make sure that this executive order never actually sees the light of day.' New Hampshire plaintiffs include parents, babies The New Hampshire plaintiffs, referred to only by pseudonyms, include a woman from Honduras who has a pending asylum application and is due to give birth to her fourth child in October. She told the court the family came to the U.S. after being targeted by gangs. 'I do not want my child to live in fear and hiding. I do not want my child to be a target for immigration enforcement,' she wrote. 'I fear our family could be at risk of separation.' Another plaintiff, a man from Brazil, has lived with his wife in Florida for five years. Their first child was born in March, and they are in the process of applying for lawful permanent status based on family ties — his wife's father is a U.S. citizen. 'My baby has the right to citizenship and a future in the United States,' he wrote. ___ Catalini reported from Trenton, New Jersey.
