French authorities have erected a floating barrier to block boats carrying migrants from entering the English Channel, according to reports.

The river Canche, which runs through the department of Pas-de-Calais and empties into the Channel, has become popular with smugglers using “taxi boats” to pick up groups of migrants hoping to reach England.

A new “floating dam” consisting of buoys strung along a chain has been laid across the Canche in the port town of Étaples, Le Parisien reports.

“Since the beginning of the year, 22 taxi-boats have been identified on the Canche, with an average of 46 migrants on each boat… without life jackets,” officials explained in a statement.

Migrants are typically instructed to wade into the frigid water, sometimes up to their necks, and wait for the boats to arrive.

Smugglers then travel a short distance down the river with their passengers and out into the Channel, effectively bypassing French beach patrols.

Authorities claim they are “fully committed to the fight against illegal immigration,” asserting that “security and emergency services are mobilized daily… in order to thwart the actions of smugglers exploiting the distress of migrant populations and preventing the occurrence of new tragedies.”

Six people were killed when a vessel carrying Afghan migrants capsized in the Channel last weekend.

More than 100,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel since 2018, many with the assistance of both French and British authorities, who often fetch them from the open water and bring them to their final destination, as InfoWars has frequently reported.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted – by present facts – of incompetence and irresponsibility.

Dan Lyman on X | Gab