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Calais migrant crisis: UK-French centre to tackle traffickers

The UK and France have announced new measures to prevent "undocumented migrants" entering the Channel Tunnel by tackling the criminals who smuggle them to Calais and across the Channel.

The plans include the creation of a joint police operation aimed at tackling the people-smugglers who profit from the desperation of those trying to reach British shores.

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Britain 'adopting xenophobic stance' towards migrants

A French police car drives past migrants at the Eurotunnel site at Coquelles in Calais. Credit: PA

Britain has been accused of adopting a "xenophobic response" to the migrant crisis by the UN's special representative on international migration.

Peter Sutherland urged Britain to join the common European approach towards migrants, saying any country that thought it could stop the "alleged floods" of people with fences was "living in cloud cuckoo land".

Mr Sutherland told BBC2's Victoria Derbyshire programme that Britain received a small number of migrants compared to other countries.

The first thing we have to do collectively is to deal with their conditions.

Instead of talking about sending Gurkhas or building fences, we should be thinking of the humanitarian crisis.

– Peter Sutherland

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