This week, according to The Guardian more than 1500 migrants crossed the Channel. In total there are already more than 13,500 this year, which is a record number.
“Britain is a huge attraction for refugees because English is spoken here,” says Britain correspondent Anne Saenen. In addition, they often already have family living here. This makes it easy for people to find a second home here.”
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The shortest way to get there is via the French coast. From there, migrants leave en masse in much too small, inflatable boats to the other side. British customs officers are currently being trained on how to prevent them from succeeding with ‘turnaround actions’. “In practice, that will be a lot more difficult than it seems,” says Saenen.
‘Sometimes no choice’
“It’s not like the British can just turn boats around. Once they’re in British waters, it’s too late. In addition, they must not endanger lives. If the refugees are in a dire situation, the Coast Guard has no choice but to take them on board.”
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The French do not agree with the British minister’s decision. “For her plan to work, the French will have to cooperate. But they don’t just let this happen,” says France correspondent Eveline Bijlsma.
Stiff collaboration
France and the United Kingdom have been working together for years to stem the flow of migrants. The cooperation between the two countries is not going very smoothly, says Saenen. “It’s a yes-no game about who is responsible for the problem. The British say the French are not doing enough to stop them.”
The two recently agreed that France would deploy more border security along the coast. For this, the country received 64 million euros from the British. According to Bijlsma, it is almost impossible to stop everyone: “It concerns more than a hundred kilometers of coast. That is difficult to keep an eye on.”
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And if they are stopped, they will come back later. “Some migrants make dozens of attempts, they keep trying until they succeed,” says Bijlsma.
‘Most disappear into illegality’
The United Kingdom accepts relatively few asylum seekers. “The legal process is long and tedious. It often takes years and they are eventually returned. Most migrants disappear into illegality”, says Saenen.
And according to Bijlsma, the French will not just take them in. “After all, the refugees do not apply for asylum here, they are only here to get to the other side. And if the French did catch them, more people would come.”
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:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/b78b2f50-1175-11ec-89a4-02c309bc01c1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1 "Mother (34) stabbed to death with child (1) in Den Bosch for family visit | Inland")