The European Union border agency Frontex has sent a plane to northern France to help combat illegal migrant smuggling.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed on Twitter that the plane had landed in Lille on Wednesday.
Darmanin said that the aircraft would "reinforce aerial surveillance as part of the fight against illegal immigration in the Channel."
The minister added that France is doubling the number of security officials tackling illegal immigration.
The moves come one week after 27 migrants were killed in a shipwreck hours after their small boat left the coast near Dunkirk attempting to reach England.
European migration officials agreed on the new deployment at an emergency meeting last Sunday in the French port of Calais.
Fronte
Read more on euronews.com