Is the Home Office betraying us?

jennifer wrote
"The rules say they should seek asylum from the first safe country they reach."
I think this rule should be changed. If it was strictly kept Italy , Greece etc would be in an impossible situation. Bad enough as it is.
France made efforts to welcome them, but most don't want France, they want the UK, Why?

Because many of them have relatives in the UK, or they speak some English Fennel. They also see the UK as being more accepting to migrants than France is, where they are often on the brunt end of police brutality in the dead of night.

Nice one?

The MP for Rye & Hastings, Sally-Ann Hart has sent this letter to Priti Patel today regarding this issue:

She wrote: “What work is being undertaken with out European neighbours to ensure that these Channel crossings do not happen in the first place? What work is underway to work with other nations to clamp down on human trafficking and exploitation that is clearly behind a lot of these crossings?

“What checks are being done to ensure that when migrants arrive here in the UK, and are apprehended by the authorities that they are tested for Covid-19? Can it be established whether or not they are bringing coronavirus to the UK?

“What support is being given by the Government to the local authorities, including the coastguard, to patrol the Channel and this vulnerable stretch of coastline, and prevent these dangerous crossings from taking place?

“There have been reports that when migrants are landing at the beach of Pett Level they are being taken to locations in Hastings. Can you confirm that when the authorities, here in the UK, apprehend the migrants, where are they being taken for detention? Are there locations in Hastings being used for this purpose?”

In the past month, 52 migrants have been detained along the coastline between Hastings and& ^Rye after crossing the Channel.

On April 8, 23 migrants were stopped in Hastings and on April 12, a boat carrying 25 men and four women was intercepted as it approached the area.

According to the Home Office, all individuals – including groups taken from boats intercepted between Hastings and Dover – were taken to Dover where they would then be transferred to immigration officials.

In her letter to the Home Secretary, Mrs Hart added: “My constituents are rightly concerned and worries at these recent developments in the increase in the numbers making these journeys and the actions being taken by our authorities once the migrants land on our beaches.

“I have written to you seeking answers on their behalf and asking that, as a country, we do more with our European neighbours to bring an end the scourge of human trafficking and thereby reduce and eliminate these dangerous Channel crossings.

So what would you do with people who turn up on UK shores Ngaio?

The chances are that an asylum claim will fail, so they will be deported. Meanwhile, they're here and the best thing would be to screen them for Covid-19 and quarantine them. Under international law, the moment they step on British soil, they're entitled to apply for asylum, so are here legally until any asylum request is rejected.

Signed

A weepie

Why would France or any other EU country be interested in stopping Channel crossing? As we keep being reminded, the UK has left the EU. The UK isn't the EU's concern.

I assume Sally-Ann Hart was/is in favour of staying in the EU, so that the UK can continue to co-operate with European neighbours.

Precisely, growstuff (18.54)

I did suggest, about 4 years ago, that France wouldn't be very hot on keeping migrants in Calais once we'd left the EU. I'm not sure why people think that they should..

grow stuff we may have left the EU but we haven't left Europe, or indeed The World. So, we still share responsibility for the desperate individuals fleeing war, poverty, famine, persecution and so on with the rest of Europe and the word.

We have VE Day some time this week. If the allies hadn't finally banded together to oppose the Nazie regime, I suppose there would be few, if any people of Jewish heritage. Of course, when the kinder transport was arranged in 1938, many people in this country didn't want to "welcome" the Jewish children.
Not much changes does it. Some people are "weepies" and other are heartless

Iam64 Do you think I don't know that?

Unfortunately, sarcasm doesn't translate well on GN.

Sally-Ann Hart is currently being investigated for Islamophobia and once suggested that people with learning difficulties should be paid less. She sounds like a very caring human being.

Sir Patrick Vallance was giving evidence to the health and social care committee after figures revealed that just 273 out of the 18.1 million people who entered the UK in the three months prior to the coronavirus lockdown were formally quarantined.

The Guardian 05.05.20

NOT!

Chewbacca I think most of them were people who had flown in from Wuhan or had come from that cruise ship (the name of which I've forgotten).

I'm not sure what this has to do with people arriving in small boats along the Channel.

Sally-Ann Hart may well be as you describe her growstuff, but nevertheless, on the issue of what protection is being offered to the migrants, and for the people that they will come into contact with whilst they are here, in regards to COVID19, is an issue that needs to be addressed. Along with the other 18.1million that flew in and didn't undergo any checks either.

So what do YOU suggest Chewbacca?

In the first part of her letter, she urges the government to work more closely with our "European neighbours". Why the hell should they want to work more closely with us?

18.1 million people flying in from Wuhan and stranded cruise ships? I don't think so growstuff.

Additional data provided to the committee shows that there were 18.1 million arrivals at the UK border by air, land and sea in the same period.
But a lot of the cases in the UK didn’t come from China and didn’t come from the place you might have expected, they came from European imports and the high level of travel into the UK at that time.”

Why so aggressive and demanding growstuff? I'm simply discussing the OP subject; like everyone else. But since you seem to think that you have right to demand an explanation and resolution to the problem, then I'd say that everyone who comes into the country, by whatever means of transport, should be tested at point of entry and immediately be sent to self isolate, as New Zealand has done. That ok with you?

Dinahmo I welcome invited migrants to our Country but not illegals who have already landed on safe shores that have put an immense strain on our services, housing etc. We have laws and procedures so please do not try and turn it into a racist thing. We have a massively populated country compared to our neighbours.

NannyC2, instead of fretting about Home Office 'betrayal' and a few illegal immigrants, why not consider all those let down by our government? Read this and take note of actions - they always speak far louder than words:

uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-britain-elderly-sp/special-report-in-shielding-its-hospitals-from-covid-19-britain-left-many-of-the-weakest-exposed-idUKKBN22H2EI

Chewbacca I agree with that! In fact, I believe it was growstuff who highlit (is that a word?) the fact that over eighteen million people flew into Britain over a certain period (not sure of exact dates) that was just before and around the lockdown period. The people arriving in boats are very small scale in comparison, but all arrivals should have been tested at least with a temperature check, and quarantined, in my humble opinion. Well sadly, no one in power bothered to ask my opinion,because if they had done, I would have suggested that we close our borders, except for repatriations, like many other countries did. However, I doubt very much that closed borders would have deterred the migrants, and so they would still have needed to be quarantined. After the fourteen days they would presumably have been housed in their temporary accommodation whilst their status was determined.
I’m quite concerned that the migrants may be simply housed and allowed to wander the streets whilst they await their asylum claim, and in doing so, possibly spread Covid19.

If the camps in Calais are rife with the virus what are the French doing to care for these people?

After all, at the moment they are the responsibility of the French Government and the French healthcare system is supposedly so superior to ours, according to Gransnetters.

Callistemon I read that French authorities have tried to get migrants to go into hostels where there are at least washing facilities and also to attend hospital and medical centres if they're unwell. Unfortunately, because French police have spent the last few months tearing camps down in the dead of night, migrants are fearful that they will be sent miles away from Calais and be too far away to try to leave for Britain. Also, many that have been sent to isolated safe hostels have absconded because of attacks on them by local communities and they're afraid to stay. They feel safer in their own community in Calais despite its privations and risks of contracting Covid and other diseases.

growstuff - I wasn't being sarcastic.

No, but I was.

I can't believe how heartless people are being. They really don't seem to be thinking about what they're saying.