Trump says military needed to stop the boats as he urges tougher crackdown from Starmer on Channel migrants
US President Donald Trump has urged Sir Keir Starmer to deploy the military to crack down on migrants crossing the Channel in small boats.
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Speaking during a joint press conference with Sir Keir at Chequers, Mr Trump said illegal migration could “destroy” countries as he issued a stark warning to the Prime Minister.
He compared Britain's small boats crisis to the influx of migrants in the US and advised Sir Keir to take notes from his mass deportation raids.
Mr Trump said: “What I saw happening, with millions of people pouring into our country, I couldn’t stand to watch it, and we’ve done a great job.”
He added: “The last three months we had zero – from millions of people a year ago, we had zero people enter our country illegally”.
Speaking alongside Sir Keir, he continued: “I think your situation is very similar. You have people coming in and I told the Prime Minister I would stop it, and it doesn’t matter if you call out the military, it doesn’t matter what means you use.
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Sir Keir pointed to steps his government has made in recent weeks to tackle the crisis, including the first return under the one-in, one-out deal with France, which took place on Thursday morning.
It came just hours before the Prime Minister’s talks with Mr Trump.
The migrant, from India, is believed to have been flown to Paris on an Air France passenger plane from Heathrow on Thursday.
He is the first of up to 100 Channel migrants who are set to be returned to France under the Government's controversial scheme, having been detained by Border Force at the start of last month.
More than 31,000 people have crossed the Channel via small boats to England so far in 2025 – the highest number at this point in the year since the first arrivals in 2018.
As part of the "one in, one out" deal, migrants deported to France are expected to be put up in “emergency” accommodation for the first three days before being housed in one of the 3,000 state accommodation centres for asylum seekers.
These centres currently house 100,000 asylum seekers, who can be trapped there for up to a year and encouraged to apply for “voluntary return” to their home countries.
Those who refuse to leave and are not qualified for asylum will be given orders to leave France. However, just 15 per cent of those ordered to leave actually left the country.