France and Britain vowed on Monday to work more closely to prevent illegal immigration, saying the number of asylum seekers in the Channel region had already fallen dramatically over the last two years. In June 2004, less than 200 people per month had applied for asylum near the British port city of Dover -- 10 times fewer than the number of people seeking asylum there in July 2002, the French Interior Ministry said in a statement. "Our results in the area of fighting against illegal immigration are excellent," French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters during a visit with his British counterpart David Blunkett. Britain has worked more closely on asylum with France since it closed the Red Cross-run Sangatte refugee camp in the northern French city of Calais in 2002. At one point the camp was receiving 400 refugees a day, many bent on reaching Britain. In Calais, the ministers inspected newly installed equipment to check passports and to detect illegal immigrants hidden on vehicles or ferries. The systems are to be set up in more port cities, the French interior ministry said. Sangatte had become a base for nightly attempts by asylum-seekers to cross the Channel Tunnel stowed away on trains and lorries, poisoning relations between Paris and London. During this year, authorities arrested 418 people smugglers in the area, a rise of 58 percent over last year, police said.
