French police have reached a new migrant crossings low as new data claims gendarmes are preventing fewer small boat crossings than before. Data published by the Home Office suggests more than three-quarters of migrants attempting to reach the UK from France go unchallenged by the local police.

The figures look at the four weeks to September 7, and show the number of attempted crossings being stopped by French police plummeted from 31.9% in July and August this year and is almost half of the 46.7% of crossings that were stopped by the French in July and August 2024. The most recent data available on the issue comes as officers were seemingly missing in action last week too. Hundreds of migrants tried to cross from Gravelines, France, to the UK as the second of three deportations under the Government’s “one in, one out” deal with Paris took place on Friday.

An inflatable dinghy full of men, women and at least three children made its way out to sea from Gravelines beach at daybreak on September 19. But there were no gendarmes present anywhere on the beach as the boat made its way out to sea monitored by a French coastguard vessel, The Telegraph reports.

A group of 40 people appeared from a quiet side street in Gravelines carrying an inflatable boat over their heads before launching it into a canal at about 5.30am on Friday. But again, French police reportedly just watched on as the person piloting the boat struggled to keep it in a straight line.

An angry British tourist said he was “never coming back to France” after witnessing inaction by the French. He said: “Where are the police? They’re doing nothing.”

Hundreds of migrants embarked on the Channel crossing early on Friday morning just days after the Labour Government’s new “one-in, one-out” deal with France began.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said Britain’s migrant returns deal with France serves as an “immediate deterrent”.

Three men have been so far deported from the UK to France under the deal. More than a thousand people crossed the English Channel in small boats on Friday.

A total of 1,072 made the journey in 13 boats. It took the number of people who have made the crossing so far in 2025 to 32,103 – a record for this point in a year.

The scale of Friday’s crossings suggested the “one-in, one-out” policy was having little impact on those gathered on the beaches of northern France, in a blow to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

The deal with France means people who arrive in the UK by small boat can be detained and sent back across the Channel in exchange for an equivalent number of people who applied through a safe and legal route.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp attacked the deal as providing “no deterrent effect whatsoever”. He described the numbers returned as “pathetic” and said “boasting about it is absurd”.

Home Office sources pointed to the fact these were forcible returns, and drew comparisons with the previous government’s deal with Rwanda which saw four volunteers go to the east African nation over two years. That scheme was scrapped by Labour.

The Government intends to increase the number of people being sent back to France under the pilot deal over the coming months.