boats

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. military carried out three strikes Monday in the waters of the Eastern Pacific against boats suspected of carrying drugs, killing 14 and leaving one survivor.

The announcement made on social media Tuesday, marks a continued escalation in the pace of the strikes, which began in early September spaced weeks apart. This was the first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day.

Hegseth said Mexican search and rescue authorities “assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue” of the sole survivor but didn’t say if that person would stay in their custody or be handed over to the U.S.

In a strike earlier in October which had two survivors, the U.S. military rescued the pair and later repatriated them to Colombia and Ecuador.

Hegseth posted footage of the strikes to social media in which two boats can be seen moving at speed through the water. One is visibly laden with a large amount of parcels or bundles. Both then suddenly explode and are seen aflame.

The third strike appears to have been conducted on a pair of boats that were stationary in the water alongside each other. They appear to be largely empty with at least two people seen moving before an explosion engulfs both boats.

Hegseth said “the four vessels were known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking routes, and carrying narcotics.”

The death toll from the 13 disclosed strikes since early September is now at least 57 people.

Consumer confidence is dropping. The national debt is $38 trillion and climbing like the yodeling mountain climber in that “The Price is Right” game. Donald Trump’s approval ratings are falling and the U.S. is getting more and more restless as 2025 comes to a close.

What’s a wannabe strongman to do to prop up his regime?

Attack Latin America, of course!

U.S. war planes have bombed small ships in international waters off the coast of Venezuela and Colombia since September with extrajudicial zeal. The Trump administration has claimed those vessels were packed with drugs manned by “narco-terrorists” and have released videos for each of the 10 boats-and-counting it has incinerated to make the actions seem as normal as a mission in “Call of Duty.”

“Narco-terrorists intending to bring poison to our shores, will find no safe harbor anywhere in our hemisphere,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on social media and who just ordered an aircraft carrier currently stationed in the Mediterranean to set up shop in the Caribbean. It’ll meet up with 10,000 troops stationed there as part of one of the area’s biggest U.S. deployments in decades, all in the name of stopping a drug epidemic that has ravaged red America for the past quarter century.

This week, Trump authorized covert CIA actions in Venezuela and revealed he wants to launch strikes against land targets where his people say Latin American cartels operate. Who cares whether the host countries will give permission? Who cares about American laws that state only Congress — not the president — can declare war against our enemies?

It’s Latin America, after all.

The military buildup, bombing and threat of more in the name of liberty is one of the oldest moves in the American foreign policy playbook. For more than two centuries, the United States has treated Latin America as its personal piñata, bashing it silly for goods and not caring about the ugly aftermath.

“It is known to all that we derive [our blessings] from the excellence of our institutions,” James Monroe concluded in the 1823 speech that set forth what became known as the Monroe Doctrine, which essentially told the rest of the world to leave the Western Hemisphere to us. “Ought we not, then, to adopt every measure which may be necessary to perpetuate them?”

Our 19th century wars of expansion, official and not, won us territories where Latin Americans lived — Panamanians, Puerto Ricans, but especially Mexicans — that we ended up treating as little better than serfs. We have occupied nations for years and imposed sanctions on others. We have propped up puppets and despots and taken down democratically elected governments with the regularity of the seasons.

The culmination of all these actions were the mass migrations from Latin America that forever altered the demographics of the United States. And when those people — like my parents — came here, they were immediately subjected to a racism hard-wired into the American psyche, which then justified a Latin American foreign policy bent on domination, not friendship.

Nothing rallies this country historically like sticking it to Latinos, whether in their ancestral countries or here. We’re this country’s perpetual scapegoats and eternal invaders, with harming gringos — whether by stealing their jobs, moving into their neighborhoods, marrying their daughters or smuggling drugs — supposedly the only thing on our mind.

That’s why when Trump ran on an isolationist platform last year, he never meant the region — of course not. The border between the U.S. and Latin America has never been the fence that divides the U.S. from Mexico or our shores. It’s wherever the hell we say it is.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro Urrego addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 23 at U.N. headquarters.

(Pamela Smith / Associated Press)

That’s why the Trump administration is banking on the idea that it can get away with its boat bombings and is salivating to escalate. To them, the 43 people American missile strikes have slaughtered on the open sea so far aren’t humans — and anyone who might have an iota of sympathy or doubt deserves aggression as well.

That’s why when Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the U.S. of murder because one of the strikes killed a Colombian fisherman with no ties to cartels, Trump went on social media to lambaste Petro’s “fresh mouth,” accuse him of being a “drug leader” and warn the head of a longtime American ally he “better close up these killing fields [cartel bases] immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”

The only person who can turn down the proverbial temperature on this issue is Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who should know all the bad that American imperialism has wrought on Latin America. The U.S. treated his parents’ homeland of Cuba like a playground for decades, propping up one dictator after another until Cubans revolted and Fidel Castro took power. A decades-long embargo that Trump tightened upon assuming office the second time has done nothing to free the Cuban people and instead made things worse.

Instead, Rubio is the instigator. He’s pushing for regime change in Venezuela, chumming it up with self-proclaimed “world’s coolest dictator” Nayib Bukele of El Salvador and cheering on Trump’s missile attacks.

“Bottom line, these are drug boats,” Rubio told reporters recently with Trump by his side. “If people want to stop seeing drug boats blow up, stop sending drugs to the United States.”

You might ask: Who cares? Cartels are bad, drugs are bad, aren’t they? Of course. But every American should oppose every time a suspected drug boat launching from Latin America is destroyed with no questions asked and no proof offered. Because every time Trump violates yet another law or norm in the name of defending the U.S. and no one stops him, democracy erodes just a little bit more.

This is a president, after all, who seems to dream of treating his enemies, including American cities, like drug boats.

Few will care, alas. It’s Latin America, after all.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says she does not agree with US strikes on boats off the coast of South America, when asked about the recent deadly attacks on what the US has claimed are drug traffickers.

WASHINGTON — The Navy admiral who oversees military operations in the region where U.S. forces have been attacking alleged drug boats off Venezuela will retire in December, he and the Defense Secretary announced Thursday.

Adm. Alvin Holsey became the leader of U.S. Southern Command only in November, overseeing an area that encompasses the Caribbean Sea and waters off South America. These types of postings typically last between three and four years.

The news of Holsey’s upcoming retirement comes two days after the U.S. military’s fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean against a small boat accused of carrying drugs. The Trump administration has asserted it’s treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force.

Frustration with the attacks has been growing on Capitol Hill. Some Republicans have been seeking more information from the White House on the legal justification and details of the strikes, while Democrats contend the strikes violate U.S. and international law.

Holsey said in a statement posted on the command’s Facebook page that it’s “been an honor to serve our nation, the American people and support and defend our Constitution for over 37 years.”

“The SOUTHCOM team has made lasting contributions to the defense of our nation and will continue to do so,” he said. “I am confident that you will forge ahead, focused on your mission that strengthens our nation and ensures its longevity as a beacon of freedom around the globe.”

U.S. Southern Command did not provide any more information beyond the admiral’s statement.

In a post on X on Thursday afternoon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth thanked Holsey for his “decades of service to our country, and we wish him and his family continued success and fulfillment in the years ahead.”

“Admiral Holsey has demonstrated unwavering commitment to mission, people, and nation,” Hegseth wrote.

Officials at the Pentagon did not provide any more information and referred the Associated Press to Hegseth’s statement on social media.

The New York Times first reported on Holsey’s plans to leave his position.

Toropin and Finley write for the Associated Press.

Dozens of Turkish boats were seen sailing with Palestinian flags off the coast of Hatay in the south of the country, in solidarity with Gaza-bound flotilla activists who were intercepted and detained by Israeli forces.

Shabana needs to be tough like Arnie

NEW Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has no time to lose.

She has built a reputation as an immigration hardliner from the right wing of the Labour Party and is nicknamed The Terminator.

1

So her appointment, in the reshuffle forced on Sir Keir Starmer by Angela Rayner’s resignation, was a clear sign of intent.

But she has been parachuted into the middle of the Government’s biggest political crisis zone.

A chaotic year of ineffective posturing saw an astonishing 111,000 asylum applications pile up after Sir Keir ditched the Rwanda deterrent.

Nigel Farage’s Reform have swept into this policy vacuum and seized the initiative.

Little wonder that a new poll puts them on course for Number Ten.

The new Home Secretary says she has no choice but to deliver.

She is right to call for legal migrants to put more into society if they want to have leave to remain here.

But voters want fast action on stopping the boats and kicking out those who should not be here.

Ms Mahmood has ordered reviews of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Modern Slavery Act.

Now she must bang heads together to deliver them early.

Thousands have dodged deportation because of these two legal millstones around the Government’s neck.

If Ms Mahmood wants to succeed, she needs to quickly live up to her Terminator reputation.

By saying Hasta La Vista to those here illegally.

Air Miles Miliband

ED MILIBAND’S reckless rush to Net Zero is already costing households dear.

This month, regulator Ofgem said Labour’s obsession with wind and solar power will see electricity prices hiked by almost £100 by 2031.

Now, as we reveal today, the Energy Secretary has himself clocked up 50,000 miles on globe-trotting flights since Labour came to power.

Forget his Red Ed nickname. It should now be Air Miles Miliband after he enjoyed carbon-busting jollies to India, China, Brazil and the US.

All this from a politician who in opposition urged voters to cut their use of flights.

To offset hypocrite Miliband’s globe-trotting would require 1,200 trees to be planted.

And that’s before you deal with the hot air he spouts.

In what it claims is the first such attack in history, Ukraine has used drones to strike a pair of Russian Navy Be-12, a twin-turboprop amphibious aircraft that we have profiled in depth in the past. The raid appears to have targeted two of the extremely scarce seagoing planes, potentially halving the number of airframes available to Russia and leaving a question mark over the future service for the type.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense today published a video showing the attack on an airfield in Russian-occupied Crimea, which it says is “the first ever strike on a Be-12.” Seen from the perspective of the kamikaze drones, two of the amphibians are hit (one of them with the Bort number 08) and a Mi-8 helicopter is also struck. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claims the destruction of all three aircraft, but that cannot currently be independently verified. The airbase is almost certainly Kacha, near the Black Sea Fleet’s major naval base at Sevastopol.

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), the drone strike was carried out on September 21 by the “Ghost” special forces unit.

The Be-12, known as Tchaika, or Seagull, in Russian and codenamed Mail by NATO, was first flown in 1960 and which then served throughout the rest of the Cold War. It has played an unsung but important role since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, most notably helping hunt for Ukrainian uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), or ‘drone boats,’ in the Black Sea.

What is clear, however, is that the number of these amphibians available to Russia was already strictly limited.

The U.K.-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank reports that, at the beginning of 2023, Russia had six Be-12s. All were said to be in the Be-12PS search-and-rescue configuration. Recent satellite imagery of Kacha airfield in Crimea shows seven or eight Be-12s, of which four or five were airworthy, according to the Ukrainian Channel 24.

Provided that the two aircraft struck by the GUR were airworthy, and both are now either destroyed or damaged beyond repair, then the Be-12 force available to the Russian Navy may well have been halved. On the other hand, the fact that one aircraft appears to lack a propeller on one of its engines suggests it might already have been withdrawn from use. It could still be a highly valued source for spare parts though.

Videos and photos showing Russian Be-12s operating over the coast of Crimea began to proliferate in summer 2022, and, since then, there have been multiple reports indicating that these aircraft are being used to spot USVs, and likely other Ukrainian activity, including by special forces teams, combat divers, and reconnaissance parties, in and around the peninsula.

During its Cold War heyday, the Be-12 was mainly an anti-submarine warfare platform, but, without any significant upgrades, the aircraft has long since ceased to have any real utility in this role.

Today’s aircraft can also be used for combat search and rescue, for example, dropping supplies to Russian airmen downed over the Black Sea. The Be-12PS can also carry 13 survivors, although, since there are very strict limits on landing on water, due to the age of the airframes, this is of little relevance.

The Be-12 can also be used in a transport capacity, if required.

In an uncontested environment, the Be-12 still offers useful reconnaissance capabilities. Its radar is able to provide a basic situational awareness picture of the coastline, as well as detect ships, in a sea-control role. More importantly, especially for USV detection, is the extensively glazed nose station, accommodating the navigator/observer.

The GB men’s quad – Cedol Dafydd, Callum Dixon, Matthew Haywood and Rory Harris – have had a superb season becoming European champions and winning the World Cup in Lucerne and they continued that form, dominating the second half of their heat to take their place in Tuesday’s semi-finals.

Ireland’s Ronan Byrne, Brian Colsh, Adam Murphy and Andrew Sheehan failed to qualify.

It is a new combination in the women‘s pair for Great Britain and Lizzie Witt and Jade Lindo acquitted themselves well, coming third in their heat behind Serbia and Chile but fast enough to claim one of the six fastest-loser places in the semi-finals.

Lindo was introduced to rowing through the Discover Your Gold talent ID programme and soon joined the GB Start pathway at Twickenham Boat Club. Witt was inspired to take up the sport when she went to see the 2012 Olympics at Eton Dorney. This is her first season of full-time rowing.

Ireland’s Emily Hegarty and Aoife Casey failed to progress.

In the men’s pair, James Vogel and Harry Geffen stormed off the start and were leading with 250m to go.

The Leander club duo were then caught by the experienced Spanish pair of Jaime Canalejo and Javier Garcia, along with Sweden.

Third place meant an anxious wait but they too progressed into Tuesday’s semi-finals as one of the quickest non-automatic qualifiers.

The County Fermanagh pair of Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney, representing Ireland, made it through as an automatic qualifier after finishing second behind Romania in their heat.

This was their first race since the Olympic final in Paris where they finished sixth but they are the defending bronze medallists from the World Championships two years ago.

The Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza has started sailing out of Tunisia. Al Jazeera’s Hassan Massoud is on board one of the vessels in the fleet aiming to challenge Israel’s blockade of the territory.

Callum Walsh knows what it means to earn a living with his hands. Before throwing hooks and jabs in the ring, he spent his days lifting cargo on fishing boats in the port of Cobh, under the cold Atlantic wind in his native Ireland.

He was only 16, but he already understood hard work. Today, at 24, he continues to work just as hard, although his stage has changed — now he does it under the bright lights of a boxing ring.

On Saturday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Walsh (14-0, 11 KOs) will have the night he always dreamed of.

He will fight on the co-main event of a card headlined by Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez and Terence Crawford, a huge platform for his young career, and it will be broadcast on Netflix, where he will risk his undefeated record in a 10-round super welterweight bout against another hungry youngster, Fernando Vargas Jr. (17-0, 15 KOs), heir to the surname of a former world champion.

Ireland’s Callum Walsh punches Scotland’s Dean Sutherland during a super welterweight boxing match on March 16 in New York.

(Frank Franklin II / Associated Press)

Far from trying to forget his days on the docks, Walsh is grateful for them.

“Training is tough, yes, but I enjoy it. It’s much better than getting up at dawn to go to the port,” Walsh said with a smile.

The work ethic he displayed as a loader on fishing boats also helped establish Walsh as one of the most promising prospects in world boxing.

The Irish southpaw has fought three times at Madison Square Garden and filled Dublin’s 3Arena last year. His aggressive and fast style sets him apart, with a volume of punches that rarely diminishes and a courage that leads him to exchange blows without backing down.

“I’ll be opening up to a much wider fan base. There will be a lot of people watching the fight,” said Walsh, who wants people to be satisfied with the contest, unlike the last Netflix show in which Jake Paul disappointed millions of viewers by having a very limited opponent, 58-year-old Mike Tyson.

“I want to show them what real boxing is all about. There will be a lot of people watching for the first time, and I want them to become fans,” said Walsh, an admirer of his compatriot, Conor McGregor, a UFC star.

Walsh is training at Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles under the watchful eye of Freddie Roach. There, the Irishman is combining his solid amateur foundation of more than 150 fights with the legendary trainer’s offensive style.

“I couldn’t have chosen a better teacher,” Walsh said.

On the other side of the ring, Walsh will face Vargas, a southpaw with a powerful punch who made his debut in 2020 but already boasts 17 victories — 15 of them by knockout. However, the odds in Las Vegas favor the Irishman.

“I don’t care about Las Vegas. Las Vegas loses all the time,” Vargas Jr. said on “The PorterWay Podcast” when asked about not being favored.

Undefeated junior middleweight boxers Callum Walsh, left, and Fernando Vargas Jr., right, face off while UFC’s Dana White looks on during a news conference at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

(Steve Marcus / Getty Images)

The fight will not only be a duel between undefeated fighters. It will also be a huge showcase. The powerful boxing promoter and organizer of the Canelo vs. Crawford fight, Turki Al-Sheikh, will be watching Walsh closely, as will UFC president Dana White, who has shared a growing interest in boxing.

“The lights can’t shine any brighter than that night,” warned Tom Loeffler, Walsh’s promoter.

But Walsh says he doesn’t feel any pressure. Not from the stage, nor from protecting his perfect record.

“Everyone can lose at some point. The important thing is to face real fights and give the public what they want,” Walsh said. At 24, he knows he still has a long way to go.

The story of the young man who left the boats for the ring will have a new chapter this Saturday in Las Vegas. It will be up to his fists to impress the world and confirm that he is no longer a prospect, but a reality.

This article first appeared in Spanish via L.A. Times en Español.

THERE is a reckoning coming. The people of Britain have had enough.

A new poll by Find Out Now has Reform UK winning a majority of 140 seats at the next general election. The big poll-of-polls gives us a 10-point lead. People are fed up. And one thing they are fed up with the most is illegal immigration.

6

6

6

I went along to watch a protest outside the Britannia Hotel in London’s Canary Wharf, now a luxury hostel for asylum seekers, and felt for myself how high feelings are running.

Protesters like the famous Pink Ladies don’t want these illegal immigrants in their communities. Does anybody? Who voted for this madness?

That’s why our party, Reform UK, is backing more peaceful protests and asking people to demand that their local councils take action to empty the migrant hotels. But we can’t stop there.

We need to detain and deport illegal immigrants. Then I think they’re going to stop coming, and we can get back to some sort of peace and normality.

It’s no wonder people are angry. Just look at the shocking numbers that came out this past week.

We learned that, in the year up to June 2025, 110,000 more migrants applied for asylum in Britain –that’s the highest number since records began. More than 50,000 illegal immigrants have landed on our beaches since Labour were elected last July.

At the end of June, 32,100 asylum seekers were housed in hotels at taxpayers’ expense – up another 8 per cent since Keir Starmer moved into 10 Downing Street.

Over that same year, the Labour government spent £4.76 billion managing the asylum mess that they and their Tory predecessors have created.

This outrageous sum is the equivalent of hiring 86,500 more police officers, or 16 million winter fuel payments for British pensioners at the higher rate.

If I were a young male over the Channel in a migrant camp, I’d be thinking to myself it doesn’t matter where I’m from or what I’ve done in the past, get on a small boat to Britain and within 24 hours I could be in a four-star hotel, three meals a day, wifi, mobile phone, free to roam the streets and do pretty much whatever you want, because the authorities haven’t got the foggiest who you are.

What have we done as a nation? We see it in the news every week now, that an asylum seeker has been either charged or found guilty of disgusting attacks on women and girls.

The door’s open, we’ve invited these people in, some of them serious wrong ‘uns, and treated them like honoured guests.

But the tide is starting to turn. Last week the decent people of Epping in Essex won a big victory for us all, when the high court ruled that asylum seekers must leave the town’s Bell Hotel.

Parents and concerned residents had been protesting outside the hotel since an illegal migrant housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.

They were slandered as “far-right” lunatics by Labour and the BBC, and attacked by leftie “Antifa” thugs who we saw being bussed in by the police! But they bravely stood up and won, despite home secretary Yvette Cooper shamefully hiring expensive lawyers to attack them in court.

People around the country are now protesting outside migrant hotels and telling their councils to take action. Nigel Farage was the first to call for more peaceful protests, and the councils that Reform won in the May elections will do everything in their power to follow Epping’s lead.

Now we need to go further. Next week, Reform UK will announce our proposals for mass deportations that will finally stop the boats and tackle the crisis.

And we are very clear that, to make this happen, the UK will need to quit the European Convention on Human Rights, which lets liberal foreign judges override the sovereignty of our parliament on immigration law.

National emergency

This is a national emergency. Labour’s latest scheme, to move migrants from hotels into homes into our communities, can only make matters worse.

But let’s not forget that the last Conservative government started the problem. So it’s a bit rich for them to start attacking migrant hotels now.

When I was a Tory MP, I spoke up asking the government to detain illegal immigrants in secure camps ready for deportation. Instead, they housed them in hotels.

I was constantly told to shut up by the “One Nation” lot of Conservative MPs. This is of their making, and they should all apologise right now.

Reform Uk stands foursquare with the people protesting peacefully across Britain. And we will defend free speech against the authorities that want to lock up anybody who speaks out.

On a protest in my constituency of Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, some women in their sixties and seventies came up to me and said Lee, are we really far-right? And I said no, you’re just right.

6

6

6

MIGRANTS arriving in Britain by small boat were immediately detained yesterday under the new “one in, one out” deal with France.

The first to be held under the pilot scheme were picked up in Dover on Wednesday – just hours after the new treaty kicked in.

1

Photos showed arrivals in life jackets being led off Border Force vessels at the Western Jet Foil facility.

An unspecified number were held on the spot and taken to immigration removal centres — with swift deportation to France now expected.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Yesterday, under the terms of this groundbreaking new treaty, the first group of people to cross the Channel were detained after their arrival at Western Jet Foil and will now be held in detention until they can be returned to France.

“That sends a message to every migrant currently thinking of paying organised crime gangs to go to the UK that they will be risking their lives and throwing away their money if they get into a small boat.”

The Home Office says it will not be disclosing figures at this stage for fear it would be exploited by smugglers.

But just around 50 people a week are expected to be returned under the deal,  a tiny number compared to the 25,436 who have already crossed this year.

LABOUR’s migrant deal with France is already unravelling — as dinghies keep crossing and confusion erupts over how it is meant to work.

Just days after the “one-in, one-out” scheme came into force, footage shared by the Tories shows French warships escorting small boats packed with migrants across the Channel.

3

3

3

Ministers are also at odds how the deal is even meant to work, with conflicting statements on whether deportations can go ahead if migrants lodge human rights claims.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, filming off Calais, said: “I’m on the Channel today just off Calais to see if the Government’s new deal with France is working. It isn’t.

“There is a boat full of illegal immigrants crossing right in front of me.

“The French warship is escorting it and & making no attempt at all to stop it.”

At the same time, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy sparked fresh confusion by claiming migrants removed under the scheme could still have their human rights claims heard – but in France.

Asked whether human rights claims presented a loophole to the returns deal, she told Sky News: “That’s not the case at all … the deal that we’ve struck will allow people with us to send people back to France who have human rights claims.

“Those claims will be heard in France.

“I know that the Conservative Party has been saying that this is a loophole. It isn’t and we’re really confident about that.”

But the terms of scheme published on Tuesday suggest the opposite.

It states that the UK confirms that at the time of their transfer that person will not have an outstanding human rights claim.

And it also makes clear France will not participate in UK legal proceedings.

The Tories also argue the wording opens the door for lawyers to delay or block removals with last-minute claims.

But Home Office officials insist have they prepared for judicial review challenges against certification of a human rights decisions to be heard by UK courts from France.

Ministers hope the new route –  where migrants in France apply online – will offer a “safe and legal” alternative to the boats.

But those who have already crossed are not eligible, meaning thousands already here won’t be affected.

Only around 50 people a week are expected to be returned under the deal, which would equate to only one in every 17 small boat arrivals.

The new legal route to Britain only applies to people already in France who have not tried to cross illegally.

To qualify, they must apply online and prove they have close family in the UK, come from a country that is likely to get asylum, or are at risk of being trafficked or exploited.

Unaccompanied children, people with criminal records, and anyone who has previously been deported from the UK are banned from applying.

The deal also reveals that Britain is picking up the tab for both directions of travel – paying for the transport of migrants we send back to France and those we bring in legally.

Alp Mehmet from Migration Watch told The Sun: “This Starmer/Macron wheeze has zero chance of working. It won’t discourage migrants, while smugglers will be tempted to pile in even more people into flimsy vessels. It will have the opposite effect to the one intended.”

The deal will remain in force until June 2026 – but the legal route can be paused automatically if France slows down on taking people back.

Despite Labour’s promise to stop the boats, this year is already on track for a record number of arrivals.

More than 25,000 migrants have crossed the Channel in small boats so far in 2025 – up 49 per cent on the same point last year.