UK, France trade barbs over migrant crossings of Channel

LONDON (AP) — Britain and France are trading barbs over what to do about a growing number of migrants trying to cross the English Channel in small boats. The British government has suggested that U.K. Border Force vessels could intercept boats and send them back to French waters. France’s Interior Minister responded that Paris would “not accept any practice contrary to the law of the sea.” Migrants have long used northern France as a launching point to reach Britain, either by stowing away in trucks or on ferries, or in small boats organized by smugglers. Opposition politicians and refugee groups in Britain say turning back boats in the Channel would be impractical, dangerous and illegal.