Brits sunbathing in Oldstairs Bay in Kent were surprised when a small red boat docked right in front of their beach chairs around 11am on a weekday last week. Within seconds, about thirty people were out of a rubber dinghy jumped and dashed over the pebbles of English Bay.
It’s not an uncommon image at the moment. A record number of migrants and refugees are trying to cross the Channel from France to seek asylum in the UK. About 8,900 of them reached the British coast this year, slightly more than in all of 2020 and more than four times more than in 2019. Thousands more migrants are expected to make the crossing. Due to the calm sea, the conditions are now favorable. The British Coast Guard has therefore scaled up.
Steve Hill lives on the cliff of Fairlight. From his living room he looks out over the sea and can see the boathouse of the local East Sussex rescue team, where he works as a volunteer. “They must be so scared,” he says. “This canal is the world’s busiest shipping route, huge container ships pass through it. You don’t see those small boats on the radar and at night it is pitch black at sea.”
He especially hates boats with children, he says. “Last time I had an 18-month-old baby in my arms. As a mother, you have to be desperate to take a baby on such a journey.”
The white chalk cliffs of Dover
As soon as the boats are on the water, the French coastguard no longer stops them, because of their own interpretation of international maritime law. France only intervenes if the boats themselves ask for help or are in trouble.
As a result, the elongated French beaches, from which the white cliffs of Dover are visible on clear days, have now become the front line. Before the boats enter the water, the French try to stop them as much as possible, but the beaches are difficult to patrol.
After about 15 kilometers out to sea, the crossing boats reach the middle of the Channel, and with it British waters. Then they can be taken out of the water by the British coastguard, or escorted to an English port.
Once on land, the migrants and refugees are taken to the immigration registration center where they can apply for asylum. They are then distributed in accommodations across the country until the application is processed. The waiting period varies from six months to three years.
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