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WATCH: Former UK Border Force Director delivers 'simple solution' to UK migrant crisis
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Jun 4, 2025
Former UK Border Force Director General Tony Smith has outlined what he describes as straightforward methods to halt migrant Channel crossings, speaking to GB News from an international border management conference in Estonia.Smith proposed deploying satellite tracking technology and floating barriers similar to those used on the Rio Grande between the United States and Mexico.The Government faces criticism for publishing weather data to explain record Channel crossing numbers. The data, released today for the first time, is expected to show more "red days" - calm conditions favourable for crossings.READ THE FULL STORY HERE
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go to Tarlin in Estonia and speak to the former director general of the UK Border Force, Tony
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Smith, who has written in the Telegraph today just how the French can help to stop the boats
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He's a man with a plan, and dare I use the phrase, Tony Smith, it sounds like an oven
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ready plan. It sounds one that's ready to go. You reckon you can crack this, you've got
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the technology, you've halted a similar crisis in the early 2000s and the Blair regime. You
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think you can sort this out talk us through it mate well i can't sort it out unless the parties
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agree to my plan and unfortunately martin i don't have that power and authority but yeah i mean
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looking at saturday's figures you know 1378 attempts and 1194 made it that's a 15 stop rate
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in france that's pretty by anyone's estimation we know because you've had patrick christie's over
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there you've had mark white over there they're launching from inland waterways around coming
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into the beaches now because they're worried about being stopped on the beaches and i'm just saying
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look there are loads of ways that we could stop that easily martin if we were allowed to we've got
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satellite tracking technology at borders now i here in estonia chairing a very conference on international border management i got the Americans here lots of countries here telling me about they got barriers they got surveillance floating barriers on the Rio Grande Loads of stuff that could be done
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actually by experts in this field. But in order to do that, you've got a political agreement. And
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that's what my problem is. I don't understand if we're really serious about doing this. Well, then why don't we deploy these technologies and let's stop these boats before the people even
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get in them we could puncture the boats capture the pilots and finish it at a stroke but that
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requires the political will of the French and I'm really interested I know what is going on there
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and what's this latest missive that they're going to be changing their laws apparently to do something
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about it or I don't know but it's 480 million investment over three years as you know Martin
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and I really don't know where that money's going because if I had the control and power and control
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over it and and we could do some of the things we'd like to do off the French coastline then I
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think we'd have a really good go at stopping this. Tony Smith let's be honest what the French are
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getting up to the gendarmes there they look like they're on a half a billion pound a year perpetual
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break they stand by and watch they're not intervening in water that I keep saying is no
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deeper than the average bath you know they literally standing by taking selfies and doing nothing but some of the ideas you put in the telegraph today are excellent High tech surveillance We got drones you say that can now tell what someone having for their sandwiches on the
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deck of a boat. But I tell you what, there's another problem going to be there is GDPR
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satellite access data. Our friends in Brussels would never allow us to scan French beaches
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would they? And that's the problem. Without this joined up thinking, we're simply kissing
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into the wind. Yeah, well, Martin, I've spent my whole life trying to stop human smuggling
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It's a terrible business. That's why I'm still doing this even now. You know, I left the border force ages
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ago, but I'm still out here with a lot of like-minded people trying to say, look
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we've got to stop human smuggling. If not, they're just to stop people drowning, regardless of what your views are
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on immigration. And we can do it. I mean, technology is keeping up. We can get after
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these mechanisms. But if you have not got that political will, if you haven't got the authorities
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from those who control that territory, which is the French government and the
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and the European Union who are prepared to deploy and allow us to deploy to stop these boats
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which we could do quite easily operationally, then you're right. Of course we can't do it
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But I just need to understand this is a political problem, Martin. It not an operational problem It not within the gift of the UK border force We can go over there We not allowed But there are things that could be done if the political will was there in my view Anthony you also add to this list yeah this US marine barrier
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This, of course, is in those cs that lead up to the coast there
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because these craft are oftentimes launching out not from the beaches themselves but downstream in these cs
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And you say that the US-style blockade could easily work on them
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and that will stop any of those dinghies getting anywhere near the sea in the first place
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Of course, that takes will from the French at the moment. That's a rare commodity
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And then pushing back the boats to the French side. Again, these are all common sense ideas
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But as you say, without joint or political thinking, is it all a pipe dream
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Yeah, I mean, you know, I was just struck by Patrick's report. You know, he crossed over a field with a camera crew and saw a boat sitting in the c there
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I mean, and actually, yeah, there is satellite technology is fantastic these days
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You're right. There's GDPR issues. There's going to be lots of people find lots of legal and political reasons why we can't do this
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But the technology is there. Those people are in shallow waters there. They have now got craft that could go right up
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I mean, not even waist deep and get those people safely off and back to shore
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before they set sail on those choppy waters. And some of them are going to drown
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