Theresa May

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From Save the Children, about child refugees.
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Firecracker, a lot of them lost their parents on the way to France. Their parents possibly drowned on the way over.
Do you suggest that children on their own should be sent back to Syria, or even to Turkey, or do you think they should be allowed to join family in the UK?

I remember watching a programme about four boys and their mother. Somewhere they were split from their mother, when women were told to go in one bus and children in another. The boys themselves were split up. Eventually the eldest one managed to get them back together, and found his mother in one of the French camps.
It was very moving, although I am sure some of you would think they should then be sent back to Syria to join the army there, or be bombed.

Many of the migrants DID walk to Europe - they have come from various countries and many of them have taken years to reach Calais. You are quite right when you say they have crossed other EU countries where they should have registered for asylum but for a variety of reasons they wish to get to UK or Germany. I have seen a number interviewed and often it is language skills or family - even if it is a bit distant. It also depends on the job they feel they are qualified to do.

I cannot understand why Europe has not set up a network of centres where these people can be assessed etc to see if they are able to claim asylum or if they have no claim to reside in Europe. Some of the young men claim that had they stayed in their home location they would have been forced to join ISIS or similar. Maybe we should be grateful that these people did not do that and train to become suicide bombers.

Some of the children were put in the care of the other people - possibly the smugglers- by their parents in the hope they would have a better life in Europe and some have been orphaned during the journey - others have been born en- route - I am in touch with a person who volunteers at a number of these refugee camps and she and her colleagues talk to the migrants. The migrants that people think are unsavoury characters - is it because of the way they are dressed, because they are unshaven or have unkempt hair or another reason? I am just interested. I imagine it is difficult to look neat and tidy when living in such conditions.

I am not really in favour of all these people trying to move permanantly to Europe as they are denuding their own countries of many skills and when peace eventually returns to the area they will be needed to help rebuild - but I understand the plight many find themselves in - I hope that for many it is a temporary solution to find refuge in Europe.

Much of the immigration people wanting Brexit seemed to be against is from further afield and this could have been reduced quite easily by the UK Govt and leaving the EU will make no difference to these numbers - in fact they may well increase to fill the gaps in particular areas that EU migrants will leave.

The French authorities have already provided school places for some of the children in Calais. One of the problems at the moment is that the UK has agreed to take about 150 of the children, because their parents or close relatives live in the UK, but the British authorities are being slow to process the transfer to the UK.

You can read about some of the work one charity is doing www.edlumino.org/blog/edlumino-blog-au-revoir

Many of the children are Syrians, Kurds and Yazidis. How do they look undesirable, Firecracker? Would you really want to send them back to almost certain death?

From what I've read, Welshwife, most of them do want to go back.
The bravest people I can think of at the moment are the White Helmets. However, if most of these Syrians stayed in Syria, their work would be so much more onerous and difficult. Apart from that, many towns and cities are being systematically starved by the Syrian government.
There is nothing back there for them.
The people in the fifth richest country in the world should show a bit more compassion for these children.
As Welshwife says, they probably were children when they left Syria.

Another of the terrible things that this government does is allow children to try and claim asylum, then send them back when they reach 18. That's immoral, in my opinion.

The Calais Jungle is going to be demolished by the end of the year not before time in my opinion it's just a magnet for illegals who seem to be mostly strong healthy men.

Nobody knows how many people there are in the Calais Jungle, but less than 50% are men.

fullfact.org/immigration/counting-number-migrants-calais-jungle/

Again, like I said, allheart.
What is your definition of an illegal?

Most of the people living in the 'Jungle' will be moved to better facilities throughout France- this has been going on for some time.

That's what I read, Welshwife. Apart from those with the right to come to the UK, I hope.

About time France sorted this out, let's hope they are moved somewhere far away from Calais.

As for being all heart, it's easy to post a few sympathetic posts to make yourself feel holier than thou. Like the so called celebs who go over lots of publicity for them but what do they actually do to help. Where are the so called vulnerable children's relatives, why are they not over there helping them.

Seeing as many of them walked for up to a couple of years to get to Calais in the first place I don't suppose anywhere in France will be really off putting if they are determined to get back to Calais or Dunkirk (where there is another camp).

Less than 50% men - that is so inaccurate, it's more than 90% in any info I've read. Just look at the pictures. There is a separate camp for women and children, and there is less than 1000 in there
Appeals for clothes etc ask for men's clothes and shoes and say don't send children's toys or clothes as they aren't needed - that says something,
Many of the " families" in the UK consist of unrelated "uncles" as there is a cultural norm in Afghanistan and other places to call older family friend " uncle" . I think this is why checks etc take so long. I am not against genuine refugees, just that many of those in Calais are attempting to enter the UK illegally, attacking lorry drivers and throwing items on the mororway to stop the traffic so they can stowaway in the trucks, I don't think this should be encouraged or condoned. We have no idea how many thousands have already entered by this route over the years. If there was a genuine desire for refuge , there were plenty of safe havens they must have passed through before arriving at Calais.

Yes, it does seem strange that all these offers of accommodation for genuine refugees from certain celebs and politicians seem to have vanished into thin air!! Plenty of self righteousness indignant chat, but alas, little or no action. No more than expected, but nevertheless somewhat hypocritical to say the least!!
If we don't know how many people are in the Calais jungle, how do we know that less than 50% are men?!! From what you can see and judging by what is requested, there are a lot more men than women and children.
Incidentally, all sides of the Syrian conflict are using starvation as a weapon, not just the government.

fullfact.org/europe/asylum-seekers-uk-and-europe/

Read these figures.
If you do not believe statistics, everything else is just guesswork and prejudice.

Last year 54% of first time asylum seekers were men. This year it's only 45%.

The Calais camp is running out of food and money.
There are some prganisations you can donate to now.

www.calaiskitchens.net

www.refugeecommunitykitchen.com

www.citizensuk.org

Some hope, it's all these so called charities that are making the situation worse, the camp needs to be bulldozed to the ground. The migrants accessed and genuine ones helped and the others shipped back to their country of origin.

I agree! Hope you're wearing your tin hat firecracker123!!!!

Somethings going to have to give soon ( Calais) The charities involved are warning that they are not receiving enough food and blankets to get them over the winter.
Perhaps this will convince some of the migrants to look again at France.

Placing refugees with families is no solution when they first arrive. Here in Germany we have centres where they live together. Germany does not put refugees with the normal population until they have been awarded asylum.

We are now used to seeing them around and I have donated my bicycle this week to somenone somewhere. I am not stable enough to cycle safely and it was sad to see it go but I'm pleased when I feel another woman will ride it.

We live in a country area and there are cycling groups where they can learn and learn the highway code. Most of them have never ridden a bike.
It has cost millions of Euros to house and care for the amount of refugees that Germany now has but bit by bit they are moving into work and eventually they will be a necessary workforce
The most reluctance to refugees comes from North West Germany
where there aren't any. There was a cartoon where the people were wearing those ' Virtual Reality' glasses and saw refugees everyhwere but they were actually standing on a deserted beach by the Baltic Sea surrounded by empty beach chairs.

SOrry big mistake it is North EAST Germany

So where, firecracker, if you have bulldozed their camp, are you going to put the camp inhabitants while you are sorting them into the deserving and undeserving? And who is to provide the food they need to stay alive while they're waiting to be processed?

How long do you think this 'sorting' is going to take? Don't you think that the 'authorities' are already trying to 'sort' the migrants?

Dear god, these are human beings not cattle, there would be uproar if animals were kept in the conditions these people are living in. I hope France pulls down all that wire, stops patrolling the channel and we put up the camps in this country when the refugees get to our shores. We deserve this the way we have turned our backs on the suffering

France could sort this out quite easily Firecracker123 by loading them all onto boats and sending them across the channel. Your post indicates that you regard this as a French problem. It isn't. It is an international problem and only when all the countries involved, but particularly those like the UK who make massive profits from the arms trade that enables these wars to happen, take some responsibility and act will it be resolved. It is easy to think that a war happening somewhere else is nothing to do with you, but the people arriving from these regions show that this is no longer true.

Is that tent city in Saudi still sitting there empty does anyone know?

I think the problem so many see as being a factor behind the Calais Camp is simply this.

There is such a thing as the Dublin Agreement in EU Law. This clearly states/stated the first country an asylum seeker enters is responsible for their claim. I believe this agreement has/is going to be altered .

This inevitably doesn't happen , indeed many countries are 'passed through' by Illegal Immigrants and Asylum Seekers heading for countries such as Germany and the UK. It is for many reasons but for the most part it is to get to friends and family or in the belief that those countries are better for their future financially and welfare.

The problem that is not usually addressed , the elephant in the room, is if and when an Illegal Immigrant/Asylum Seeker reaches Calais it is not for their safety of fleeing a war torn area but for financial/other reasons. This is not a point that can be doubted as ALL the people that have reached Calais have had to pass through many other countries to get there and they 'chose' not to seek Asylum in any of the 'safe havens' they passed through.

I am posting this point as it is not as 'clear cut' as they are ALL there for their safety and the UK 'must/should' provide shelter. There are inevitably factors involved such as Emotion/Empathy but there has to also be accepted that the UK has to have control of it's population and the consequences that high immigration causes or to be honest there will be more harm than good occur within it's existing population. That is a truth that is unpalatable to some and sadly they result to 'casually using the words xenophobic/racist' which to my mind makes the matter worse .

We will see what Theresa May has to say but Theresa May has to put her own country's welfare first , as ALL Prime Ministers/Leaders will do.