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More immigrants crossing the Channel

(453 Posts)
Fennel Sun 09-Aug-20 12:34:53

www.france24.com/en/20200808-uk-calls-on-france-to-help-crack-down-on-migrants-crossing-english-channel
post-Brexit - should France still be helping to stop the influx to the UK?
What do you think?

Furret Wed 19-Aug-20 16:15:53

I’ve just read that a 16-year old Sudanese boy has drowned trying to cross the Channel. A young life lost, after managing to get that far.

It’s about time the UK stepped up its commitment to help refugees. France takes four times the number we do, Germany ten times.

biba70 Wed 19-Aug-20 16:46:18

silence ...

he could be my son or my grandson- as said on the thread I posted- the only difference is where he was born, give or take a few years.

R I P young man

silverlining48 Wed 19-Aug-20 18:36:50

Another very sad ending to a young life.

Furret Wed 19-Aug-20 20:17:33

According to another social media site there are some vile posts about this tragic death doing the rounds.

Furret Wed 19-Aug-20 20:19:33

These are they

biba70 Wed 19-Aug-20 20:26:33

sick - and still some choose to read this filthy, nasty rag sad

Urmstongran Wed 19-Aug-20 20:54:14

This boy was safe in Europe. He made a choice. I wish he hadn’t, but he did.

biba70 Wed 19-Aug-20 21:21:22

sick, nasty, horrible

Furret Wed 19-Aug-20 22:58:00

Urmstongran

This boy was safe in Europe. He made a choice. I wish he hadn’t, but he did.

Here we go! Crawling out the woodwork.

Iam64 Thu 20-Aug-20 07:22:39

"The boy was safe in Europe. He made a choice. I wish he hadn't but he did"

Seeking asylum is not a crime.
There but for the grace of god/luck in life, go any one of us. It doesn't matter how often the true figures are repeated here, that show the UK takes less asylum seekers or refugees than say France or Germany, the heartless, judgemental, cold, critical comments still come.

GagaJo Thu 20-Aug-20 07:48:37

Exactly Bibs, Furret, Iam64.

Can you imagine how desperate someone has to be to cross the channel with a blow up dinghy and a spade? At 16. The 16 year olds I know are worrying about GCSE grades.

Furret Thu 20-Aug-20 08:26:00

I simply cannot understand how any human being can dismiss the death of a child like this. To say I am shocked by such an unchristian and callous regard for a young life comes nowhere near it.

We sit in our first world homes, safe from war and famine. With all the luxuries that we take for granted. Often growing fat and smug. Our families safe and snug too. And yet some of us cannot understand the sheer desperation that must drive others to seek what we take for granted.

Jabberwok Thu 20-Aug-20 08:32:31

Why is no one on here is ever critical of France for their treatment of these unfortunate people? Imagine if these camps were in Dover or Hastings, or anywhere along the East Coast?the public outcry, quite rightly would be nationwide! But in France? Why is everything west of Suez automatically the fault of Britain, including presumably these camps and France's inhumane treatment of refugees?! By the way France did have colonies too! Maybe that was also the fault of Britain!!!!!

Urmstongran Thu 20-Aug-20 08:37:58

Exactly Jabberwok well said.

I’m being vilified on this forum for my views. I have a feeling that many ‘lurkers’ are reading and some will agree with me. I’m convinced I’m not the only person to think that migrants don’t need to cross the Channel as they are quite safe where they are already.

GrannyGravy13 Thu 20-Aug-20 08:40:37

The young mans death is a terrible loss.

I blame the people smugglers, the traffickers and the criminal gangs making thousand of Euros a day exploiting these vulnerable people.

GrannyGravy13 Thu 20-Aug-20 08:45:34

Urmstongran Jabberwok the majority of Countries these people have travelled through are safe.

We are constantly told how bad a country the UK is, how bad our NHS, our schools and the housing conditions are, but still people are risking their lives and paying criminal gangs for assistance to get here?

They find it easy to work in the grey economy here in UK, car washes, labourers etc, cash in hand no questions asked.

Furret Thu 20-Aug-20 08:48:34

FFS where is your humanity?

Furret Thu 20-Aug-20 08:51:00

It’s a real eye-opener being on GN I will say that. Until I joined I had no idea such people existed.

JenniferEccles Thu 20-Aug-20 08:51:01

Seeking asylum is not a crime but trying to sneak in here by boat across the Channel or smuggled in the back of a lorry most definitely is.

One solution to this awful problem of our porous borders would be to state that anyone caught attempting to get here by those means would have their asylum application automatically refused.

Once word got back that it was hopeless to try to get here other than through the official means, the people smugglers would be out of business.

The government has promised to address this problem for years and yet here we are in 2020 and still they come.

It’s said that only approximately one in forty is deported.

GrannyGravy13 Thu 20-Aug-20 08:53:44

Furret my humanity does not stop me looking at or pointing out facts.

You have absolutely no idea of my knowledge of what happens to those young men ( and it is predominantly men) once they are in the UK system.

Urmstongran Thu 20-Aug-20 08:55:38

You’ve led your life in a bubble it seems Furret. Actually I think you did know that other people don’t always hold the same opinions as yourself.

lemongrove Thu 20-Aug-20 08:58:13

I haven’t seen any comments that fit the bill of being either unChristian or unkind on this page.
There is never any criticism of France on this subject
Jabberwok or any other country other than the UK....ever.
They would say it’s because we can do something, it’s our government etc but the truth is that it’s a joint problem between France and ourselves and we have to try and solve it together ( which we have been doing.) The fact that so many
Refuse to stay in France for whatever reasons isn’t easily resolved when people are willing to give the Channel crossing a go.If they are found in French waters they are taken back to Calais and if in English waters they are brought safely to shore here.
Any death this way, man woman or child is shocking and sad,but the only way it could be stopped is for the UK to say we will take any amount of people if they get as far as France
Asylum seekers/ refugees/ economic migrants and they can board a train at Calais free of charge and arrive here.Any amount, can you imagine that?It would encourage mass immigration to the UK from any country in the world.
The real answer is that France steps up it’s patrols of their beaches and they stop allowing migrants to live in camps in the woods and fields local to Calais.They want more money from us, and we will have to pay.It’s the only way to keep them off the open sea and in great risk of drowning.
If there was an easy way round this problem it would have been found by now.

MaizieD Thu 20-Aug-20 09:00:40

I’m being vilified on this forum for my views. I have a feeling that many ‘lurkers’ are reading and some will agree with me. I’m convinced I’m not the only person to think that migrants don’t need to cross the Channel as they are quite safe where they are already.

Nope. Villified for your ignorance of international law regarding asylum seekers.

There is no obligation under international law for asylum seekers to apply for asylum in the first 'safe' country they reach.

I'm sure there must be quite a few people agreeing with you because they, too, have been fed the lies about 'illegality', overgenerous UK benefits etc. but that doesn't make it correct.

I advise taking your information from lawyers and experts in the field of immigration and refugee law rather than the MSM or xenophobic politicians.

JenniferEccles Thu 20-Aug-20 09:02:50

Europe needs to stand together on this doesn’t it?

These immigrants travel through various European countries to get here but if every country properly secured its borders they wouldn’t get a foothold.

I guess Greece is one point of entry so that’s a start.

There already is an official asylum procedure in place - there has been for years so there should be no need for these economic (for that’s what they are) migrants to attempt the illegal sea crossing.

You most certainly aren’t alone in your views Urmstongran.

The Tories have been repeatedly voted in on a promise to cut immigration and secure our borders.

It’s about time they got to grips with this.

NotSpaghetti Thu 20-Aug-20 09:58:49

Jabberwok, I think if you look into it you will find that lots of refugees seeking refuge in France are from their former colonies.

They go there apparently because France is the "mother country" and they speak French.