UK: Work to begin on Calais wall to stop Channel migrants

Truckers and farmers block the highway near Calais, northern France, Monday Sept. 5, 2016. Hundreds of truckers in big rigs, farmers in tractors and dockers and merchants on foot blocked a major highway in northern France on Monday to demand the closure of the Calais migrant camp known as the "jungle." (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) (The Associated Press)

Demonstrators hold French flags as truckers block the highway near Calais, northern France, Monday Sept. 5, 2016. Hundreds of truckers in big rigs, farmers in tractors and dockers and merchants on foot blocked a major highway in northern France on Monday to demand the closure of the Calais migrant camp known as the "jungle." (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) (The Associated Press)

LONDON – British officials say a 4 meter-high (13 foot-high) wall will be built to deter migrants trying to reach Britain from the northern French port of Calais.

Home Office Minister Robert Goodwill says the kilometer-long (0.6 mile-long) barrier is part of a 17 million pound ($23 million) package of security measures agreed to by Britain and France. He says construction will begin "very soon."

Thousands of people from the Middle East and Africa have traveled to Calais, hoping to reach Britain by stowing away on trucks and trains through the Channel Tunnel.

A British truckers' group says the wall is a poor use of money. Road Haulage Association chief executive Richard Burnett said Wednesday that the funds "would be much better spent on increasing security along the approach roads."