Why do Asylum Seekers cross the channel on small boats

For complete clarity
Population density in 2022
Per sq I’m
England. 438
Wales 151
N Ireland 141
Scotland 70

I also know that Scotland has a long history of welcoming immigrants.

Sq km

I can't understand if these conversations are driven by genuine fear that England will sink under the weight of refugees or something else.

The fact that we can't get near a doctor, a dentist or a council house is not the fault of people arriving here recently by boat.

Population density - we rank 8th after India on population density if we take England and not the combined Uk populations. Someone really is pulling the wool ….

2 excellent posts Cossy, it's too easy for people to criticise asylum seekers who have been left with no legal means of entering the UK to claim asylum and have no alternative but to risk their lives in small boats. Next time you're on a cross channel ferry take a look at the surrounding seas and ask yourself would you risk it in a rubber dinghy for a dingy, shared hotel room and £8.86 p.w. catered or £49.18 p.w. self catered and the government doesn't allow them to work whilst awaiting a decision.

Illegal immigration is an issue, especially people traffickers who put innocent peoples lives at risk, but let’s get this straight these people are innocent, their only crime is desperation because nobody who isn’t desperate would sell everything they have to pay traffickers to load them onto a dodgy overcrowded dinghy knowing they could drown.
Blaming the powerless is preferred by incompetent governments but is counterintuitive, surely we should be blaming the powerful.
There should be legal routes for immigrants to use, since Brexit a lack of cross Europe cooperation has led to the situation we have now. Starmer needs to repair relations with our EU neighbours and put in place processing centres in Germany and France for starters where immigrants can plead their cases and be processed initially before coming to the UK.
Years have been wasted on useless propaganda inspired by Brexit. Now it is time for the grown ups to come back in the room.
And a lack of infrastructure/housing in the UK is not down to immigrants but again government incompetence.
Time to point at the real culprits here.

Cadeby

I can't understand if these conversations are driven by genuine fear that England will sink under the weight of refugees or something else.

The fact that we can't get near a doctor, a dentist or a council house is not the fault of people arriving here recently by boat.

Remember the old proverb “you can’t get a quart into a pint pot”?

We cannot see a GP for two weeks at least and Dentists are as rare as hens teeth yet illegal immigrants have instant access to both. How can that be right or fair when we have lived and worked here all our lives?

I am one of those who would really like to know if they find the reality of life in Britain disappointing after spending their life's savings as well as sometimes risking their lives to get here.
Does the reality meet their dreams I wonder?

Cadeby

I can't understand if these conversations are driven by genuine fear that England will sink under the weight of refugees or something else.

The fact that we can't get near a doctor, a dentist or a council house is not the fault of people arriving here recently by boat.

👏👏👏

Babs03

Illegal immigration is an issue, especially people traffickers who put innocent peoples lives at risk, but let’s get this straight these people are innocent, their only crime is desperation because nobody who isn’t desperate would sell everything they have to pay traffickers to load them onto a dodgy overcrowded dinghy knowing they could drown.
Blaming the powerless is preferred by incompetent governments but is counterintuitive, surely we should be blaming the powerful.
There should be legal routes for immigrants to use, since Brexit a lack of cross Europe cooperation has led to the situation we have now. Starmer needs to repair relations with our EU neighbours and put in place processing centres in Germany and France for starters where immigrants can plead their cases and be processed initially before coming to the UK.
Years have been wasted on useless propaganda inspired by Brexit. Now it is time for the grown ups to come back in the room.
And a lack of infrastructure/housing in the UK is not down to immigrants but again government incompetence.
Time to point at the real culprits here.

Absolutely! Well said!

ExDancer

I am one of those who would really like to know if they find the reality of life in Britain disappointing after spending their life's savings as well as sometimes risking their lives to get here.
Does the reality meet their dreams I wonder?

In many cases no. Worked as a volunteer with AS, and it really wasn’t so much their dreams that brought them here but desperation. They miss their homeland, their families, the sense of belonging that they will now never truly feel.

@primrose53
Upon reaching our shores AS are sent to detention centres where a doctor will check their overall health. Many are malnourished and dehydrated, some have serious mental health problems as a result of being exposed to war or brutal regimes or have untreated wounds from torture that could be infected. Also there is a risk of disease entering tge country.
So yes they do have access to a doctor, dentists not do much so but if bad oral hygiene due to malnutrition is diagnosed I suppose they will see a dentist.
Our problems with seeing a doctor or dentist are down to cut backs in funding, not AS.

I don't think I can blame people seeking asylum for the fact that I can't get near an NHS dentist. Any money I have is going on paying for root canal work. No chance for implants or cosmetic work. Its grossly unfair.

How is this the fault of refegees?

Well said Babs

Yes, well said, Babs.

Nano14

Yes, well said, Babs.

And I add my “well said” too!

Cadeby

I can't understand if these conversations are driven by genuine fear that England will sink under the weight of refugees or something else.

The fact that we can't get near a doctor, a dentist or a council house is not the fault of people arriving here recently by boat.

No-one said it was their fault, but every single person added to the population is adding to the pressure on housing, schools, doctors, dentists, hospitals, transport.

How do you expect us to cope with an endless stream of new arrivals, whether legal or illegal, from all those countries on the map I posted?

growstuff

nanna8

I chat to a group of Vietnamese migrants quite often. They still have parents and family back in Vietnam and they send money back there to assist the older ones because they don’t have pensions or any government help and if you can’t work, have no close family or support, you can starve. That is why many of them like to come and I suppose it is the same with the UK. We wouldn’t let anyone here die of starvation and I assume the UK wouldn’t,either. Economic migrants I suppose but they work very hard.They don’t come on boats,though, and are checked out before they stay. Difference.

But the people who choose to come to the UK and obtain a visa have used a legal route and the UK needs those people. I wish people would stop conflating legal immigration, which constitutes the majority, and those arriving by irregular means, most of whom are fleeing danger.

But, there are no legal routes for asylum seekers, hence why they risk there lives to get here.

By the way, according to international law, there is no such thing as an illegal asylum seeker.

Chestnut

Cadeby

I can't understand if these conversations are driven by genuine fear that England will sink under the weight of refugees or something else.

The fact that we can't get near a doctor, a dentist or a council house is not the fault of people arriving here recently by boat.

No-one said it was their fault, but every single person added to the population is adding to the pressure on housing, schools, doctors, dentists, hospitals, transport.

How do you expect us to cope with an endless stream of new arrivals, whether legal or illegal, from all those countries on the map I posted?

Oh back to the map. Would it be more acceptable if the arrivals came from elsewhere?

Populations do and will shift around. Better get used to it and put our energies into a fair and humane and transparent system.

Well said Babs: we also have to work better with the EU on the people smugglers. Yes, tough and "whack a mole", but they can and have been traced by journalists.

ExDancer

I am one of those who would really like to know if they find the reality of life in Britain disappointing after spending their life's savings as well as sometimes risking their lives to get here.
Does the reality meet their dreams I wonder?

Taking to the small boats is not a long planned choice. Those taking to the boats, have mostly fled appalling conditions in their own country, they or their family have been caught on the wrong side in political fights and fear death for themselves and their family if they stay, many have fled war and destruction in Syria or Yemen.

They did not want to leave home and family. The price of the crossing is not from a nice little pot carefully saved before hand, it is the result of families back in the country of origin colecting together all the money they can and borrowing to help the immigrant get to the UK where they may have friends and families and speak the language.

Many of those coming over are doctors and engineers, who we could well make use of . None want to live on the state, they would rather be back home living in peace and able to live in peace without the constant threat of death hanging over them.

Nobody goes through all the privations of the journey from Afghanistan or the middle east to here, just because we offer them state support, they come here because they see us a haven from a life threatening precarious futurre in their own country.

Imagine you were one of those boat people. Think about what could drive you from home to make that journey - I am sure it would be very extreme circumstances. That is what these people have gone through.

👏 👏 👏

Nano14

growstuff

nanna8

I chat to a group of Vietnamese migrants quite often. They still have parents and family back in Vietnam and they send money back there to assist the older ones because they don’t have pensions or any government help and if you can’t work, have no close family or support, you can starve. That is why many of them like to come and I suppose it is the same with the UK. We wouldn’t let anyone here die of starvation and I assume the UK wouldn’t,either. Economic migrants I suppose but they work very hard.They don’t come on boats,though, and are checked out before they stay. Difference.

But the people who choose to come to the UK and obtain a visa have used a legal route and the UK needs those people. I wish people would stop conflating legal immigration, which constitutes the majority, and those arriving by irregular means, most of whom are fleeing danger.

But, there are no legal routes for asylum seekers, hence why they risk there lives to get here.

By the way, according to international law, there is no such thing as an illegal asylum seeker.

Their lives*

Exactly. No one said it is their fault, nor, I suspect would they begrudge them life saving medical treatment.
But if you can’t see that it’s difficult for people to understand that doctors can be on hand to treat those arriving illegally,
when you can’t get a GP appointment,
or your treatment has been cancelled,
or you’re fobbed off with a medical person who prescribes something unsuitable and who has to consult the doctor you can’t see to find out what you should be given,
or you read of the endless complaints about the shortage of doctors . . .

Many thanks Babs and MOnica.
The constant linking of so called illegal immigrants, better known as asylum seekers, with our difficulties in seeing our GP or getting an NHS dentist, does suggest posters are blaming them for the mess we are in.