Britain and France are fortifying security around the Channel Tunnel and boosting intelligence efforts against traffickers as they try to dissuade thousands of migrants from trying to get to British shores.
New fencing, surveillance cameras, flood lighting and infrared detection technology will be installed around the entrance to the Eurotunnel in the French port of Calais, as part of joint efforts announced by both France and Britain on Thursday.
Under the new deal signed by Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, British police are being deployed to Calais to work with French authorities in a new command and control centre, operated by a senior commander from the UK and another from France, according to multiple reports. May visited the port town on Thursday and toured the Eurotunnel's security with Cazeneuve.
There were reports of protests.
Protest in Calais. Police warning they may use force pic.twitter.com/sbPKf1o37z— Daniel Sandford (@BBCDanielS) August 20, 2015
A few dozen migrants almost outnumbered by police. CS spray deployed once so far pic.twitter.com/NK5lbPAset— Daniel Sandford (@BBCDanielS) August 20, 2015
Last month, the Home Office announced that the UK was investing an additional £7 million ($11 million) toward increasing security at the Channel Tunnel.
Since the start of June, at least 10 migrants have died trying to sneak through the Channel Tunnel in hopes of finding prosperity in Britain. Countless others have slipped through undetected on trucks and one recently on foot.
Last week, the operators of the Channel Tunnel said the numbers of "attempted intrusions" by migrants were down since the peak earlier in the summer.
It's estimated that some 5,000 people live in tents and huts in the camps that make up the makeshift camp known as the Jungle near the Port of Calais, which connects northern France to the south of England. They are displaced from a number of countries including Syria, Libya, Sudan, Eritrea and Afghanistan.
Additional reporting by The Associated Press.