So-called ‘migrant crisis’

Jane10, my question was to Gabriella but thanks for responding.

I have worked with people from the Sudan and I do not recognise the description given at all.

I could provide details if anybody is interested.

* 15th May 2015.

So much for the spirit of Christmas and the remembrance of the story of Jesus's birth and his commitment to love and kindness for everyone.

I come from a city which then had a large black population which was only to be found in certain areas. There were places that you wouldn't go to at night. They had their own clubs to which whites had no entry. They sat outside on their front steps in groups smoking weed and dealing drugs
I could cite an article in the Guardian on 25th May 2015 re the Libyan army cadets brought to Cambridge to be trained by the British Army (with no forewarning to the local population) in order to provide better security back in their home country.
I could cite the number (albeit proportionally small) of athletes from certain countries, who 'disappear' when competing here.
I make no apologies. If we need people with certain qualifications we can advertise but they must have a proven good standard of written and spoken English, verifiable qualifications and abide by our laws andour way of living in social environments.

oldbatty in answer to your question - yes!

Day 6 I am not left wing .

*Many, from Sudan and similar areas, have not stopped at the first safe country. I wonder why?
*Their way of life is often incompatible with ours, their treatment of women is, in the main, highly questionable and undesirable.
They have no I mention of integrating, they like grouping together in enclaves, their own foods, own morals and own 'manors'*

Do you have direct , personal experience of this please?

That still doesn't answer the question of why -once they are in a safe country they do not apply to come to UK legally

But they would have to travel through several safe countries to get to France- why should France, Italy, Greece, Germany or wherever deal with all the problems? It’s a global issue - all countries should work together surely?

France is a safe country - if they want to come to UK why not apply to do so legally?

Of course we have a duty to rehome refugees. No one chooses to uproot themselves from their country without good reason. You have to be really desperate. The Middle East is a mess, I wouldn’t want to live or bring up a family there.

This is not just ‘liberal, left-wing, all embracing’ as some of our posters seem to think but common humanity. We are no better than that racist, semi-literate moron Trump if we adopt this attitude. The channel is our Wall and if we condemn those trying to scale it in search of a better life then what kind of human beings are we?

My family were immigrants from Eastern Europe into the UK in the 60´s. We worked, paid taxes, kept some of our customs from home, made friends with other people from our home country, which helped to cope the homesickness . Eventually, when the political situation changed some of us went back home, those that were already settled stayed in the UK. I shall remain eternally thankful to the many kind-hearted British (Scottish!) people, who made our transition into our new home possible. Scotland is forever in my heart.

I agree half a dozen people in a rubber dinghy is not a crisis when we have thousands of homeless sleeping rough, food banks, domestic violence and all sorts of other problems. We may be a “wealthy country “ on paper but that wealth is in the hands of a few based on expensive property and hedge fund selling debts, not making anything. Illegal immigration is nothing new, people have been entering the UK in the back of lorries for decades, that’s becoming more difficult, so now the sea route is preferred -we have no idea how many are here under the radar. We don’t have ID cards like in many other countries so it’s easier to work illegally. “Taking control of borders” is a joke, we should be working together with other countries to solve this world wide problem, not just assuming we can pull up a drawbridge or build a wall and illegal immigration will go away.

Isn't that why Australia, US, Canada and New Zealand are popular destinations for British people?

Yes, like tends to find like but those who leave our shores/emigrate, are allowed into other countries only because they can support themselves financially, have jobs to go to and intend to contribute. They also apply through the proper channels, legally, and if all is not in order and they create any sort of problem they are told permission to enter is not granted.

The two sorts of immigration are not alike at all.

The people creeping in to the UK at the dead of night, under cover and then hiding out or saying 'we are here, without papers, deal with it" are not known to us and do pose a threat, whether you will admit it or not and their access to the UK or any place in the world is not a given right.

We do not wish to import danger or threat, or a constant stream of unknowns, mostly young men, do we?

This is why we have immigration procedures, is it not?

"Let migrants sort out their own country instead of inflicting themselves on our economy." Count yourself very lucky that you are not in the situation of these people, risking their lives to cross the sea in perilous conditions. And so what if they have paid significant sums of money? I expect there are well educated and comfortably off Gransnetters who, if they were in a similar situation, would sell their homes and realise any other assets they may have in order to flee from war and the consequent collapse of social order and vital amenities.

If I were in such a situation, I expect I would choose a country where I had relatives or contacts, which has a reasonable standard of living and whose language I was familiar with. Isn't that why Australia, US, Canada and New Zealand are popular destinations for British people?

Muslims and black people don't have the best of times in France

oldbatty we can see your liberal, left-wing all-embracing attitude, but really ....???

Where did you pluck that gem from? Unbelievable.

Muslims and black people have settled in France quite happily and thrive and have done for decades.

Some are fairly militant too and far from being a crushed and persecuted minority. The Islamic reaction to Charlie Hebdo probably didn't win those involved many friends - in France or the rest of the world. Should we be sympathising?

Prejudice in any form is vile but you make villains of those with common sense who see illegal immigration as a bad, not good thing, for any country.

I don't think people quite realise these factors are at play. If they did, it might quell many concerns (or prejudices).

Stupid is stupid is stupid.

Those are excuses. I speak some French and Italian. I do not however claim any right to live in those countries at their taxpayers expense.

I also have relatives in Europe. If i decide to live their I would not want my life to be made difficult and frightening because I crept in at the dead of night, illegally.

I have every sympathy for those who flee their homelands because of horrors, wars, and persecution.

I am glad those people found a safe haven in France and it would be a good end to the story for them to build new lives in safety.

What stops them from entering the UK legally and via the normal channels? Paying a fortune to sail the channel at night and creep in illegally, given the climate in which we live, is stupid, dangerous (given they have fled danger already and are now can live safely in a civilized western country) and unlikely to make them many friends.

It's a crisis alright for those poor souls in those boats

So poor they pay thousands of pounds to set sail, from a country, France, which doesn't persecute or hound them, where they are safe and already have asylum?

I think they are stupid. If they have had to flee awful horrors, why set sail (at night) to creep into another country illegally when they could already sleep peacefully in their French beds at night? Why make life more difficult for yourself? They chose to do this.

Just what is the draw of the UK, a few miles across the channel?

A few boats of immigrants hoping to get into the UK illegally and not using the normal and proper channels is NOT a crisis either. Let us keep things in proportion.

* intention not I mention.

Picture this.
Place a saucer on a bowl of water and it floats. Add a cup of water and cup by cup, add more until it sinks.
That's what is happening to the UK. We are that saucer and our infrastructure cannot sustain an influx of the proportions currently invading our shores.
Many, from Sudan and similar areas, have not stopped at the first safe country. I wonder why?
Their way of life is often incompatible with ours, their treatment of women is, in the main, highly questionable and undesirable.
They have no I mention of integrating, they like grouping together in enclaves, their own foods, own morals and own 'manors'.
I'd feel upset if numbers weren't cut...drastically cut and if their sworn assertion of being under 20 wasn't vigorously questioned and investigated.
France has MUCH more land than we have, twice as much and their population is only 2 million more, 64m v 62m.
Let migrants sort out their own country instead of inflicting themselves on our economy.
No wonder they lie and tear up their papers. Where do they get the thousands necessary to pay a gangmaster to get them here?
The more I hear the more I want us to cut numbers to the bone.

I feel very sorry for these people, my neighbour is Iranian and does go back to Iran occasionally. Like most theocracies, what they have there is awful, can a hardline religious government ever be anything else. I don't know what the answer is, it's human nature to want to escape the harsh reality of what the Iranian people live under. I believe many of those seeking to come here are educated and would most likely be an asset. However, what starts off as a trickle rarely stays like that, hence the situation in the Mediterranean. Italy has the government it elected because they were left to get on with the surge of refugees that built up year on year crossing the Mediterranean with little practical help from the rest of the EU, nothing really got sorted and they like Greece remained put upon. Our country whilst being relatively wealthy has finite housing and infrastructure. We already have a problem with more homeless on the street than ever before. It's quite possible of course that some of these migrants may well have family here already who could sponsor them. Meanwhile, there are also several counties in the EU that are now underpopulated, Hungary for example and some of the Baltic states such as Lithuania and Latvia have experienced an exodus of their working populations, so much so that they can't get people to fill key positions. Nevertheless, some countries in the eastern bloc continue to dig their heels in as to taking in anybody who is not white and Christian and that seems to remain a stalemate position as far as I'm aware. Brussels appears to have made little progress in persuading those countries to change their stance. Into the mix, is the fact that migrants are exploited by criminal gangs, Albanians in particular seem to be a the fore of generally trafficking everything from people to arms, and clearly they don't care who dies in the process.

She was afraid of forced adoption

notanan2
On what grounds did a Norwegian claim asylum in Poland?
Most of the Iranians now crossing the channel went to Serbia after Serbia granted visa free travel to Iranians.
Obtaining a false passport there is easy, and as the border between Serbia and Croatia is very weak and open to corruption it must appear attractive to those waiting to come.

A Norwegian recently successfully claimed asylum in Poland.. the Calais/channel/people trafficking issue isn't necessarily typical of asylum seekers in general and is its own distinct issue.

But I think the OP meant the people trafficking/channel crossing issue?

There's an item on the BBC website about the real nationality of many asylum seekers.