Nigel Farage, undeterred by police warnings, has returned to England’s south-east coast, saying that he has “witnessed first hand our Border Force acting as a taxi service for illegal migrants”. He has also lodged a complaint against Kent Police for the late-night visit they paid him for reporting on the immigration crisis.
After Kent Police visited Nigel Farage to warn him against “unnecessary travel” during the lockdown, the Brexit Party leader returned on Thursday to Dover to report on the regular arrivals of illegal migrants being brought ashore by UK Border Force.
There have been known cases of coronavirus at French migrant camps. Mr Farage has warned that while Britons are forced into lockdown, both legal and illegal immigration continues, threatening to allow new cases of Chinese coronavirus into the country.
“This is an important issue,” Mr Farage said during a video posted on social media. “Three thousand two hundred people came into the United Kingdom via this route since the beginning of 2018. In the last 16 months, 2,500 people came in through Dover. Only 155 have been returned.”
He added that “every single day we get calm conditions, one or two or more boats come. Three thousand two hundred people arrived since 2018. But the pace this year is accelerating. Unless we do something, then I’m afraid we’ll finish up with many, many thousands this year alone.”
On Thursday morning, Border Force at Dover brought 11 migrants ashore who had crossed the midway point between France and England. Mr Farage told the MailOnline on Thursday that he had “witnessed first hand our Border Force acting as a taxi service for illegal migrants”.
“Before I left this morning one boat had been picked up by the British border force — and we suspect the French navy picked two or three more. We all know that Dover is the tip of the iceberg,” he added.
In late April, Mr Farage had reported from Hastings and Pett Level in East Sussex, also in the south-east of England, where he said that he had heard reports of migrants arriving under cover of the night and dispersing without being detained or processed by the Home Office’s Border Force, suggesting that the illegal boat migrant crisis is far worse than the thousands “officially” landing in towns like Dover.
Following an anonymous complaint, two Kent Police officers visited the Brexit campaigner “to advise me on essential travel” at 10 p.m. on Monday, Mr Farage said, calling it “lockdown lunacy”.
Despite the prospect of receiving another warning from police for reporting on unchecked illegal migration, Mr Farage said on Thursday: “I’m not going to stop. This issue really, really matters.”
Illegal migrants do not breach Britain’s frontiers only via small boats, of course, with many stowing away in heavy goods vehicles or exploiting the open border with the Republic of Ireland.
Later in the day, he revealed that he had made a formal complaint to Kent Police, asking to know why he had been “singled out” for warning despite acting in his capacity as a journalist to report on the important issue of illegal migration at a time of a pandemic.
Highlighting hypocrisy over him receiving a police call while others had not, he added in the letter:
“Since I was called on by Kent Police, it has come to light that the government adviser Prof Neil Ferguson breached social distancing rules for purely personal, as opposed to public interest, reasons. Despite admitting to his error, I gather he will not face police action and certainly will not receive a night-time knock at his door from officers in uniform.
“The same can be said for the government minister, Robert Jennrick, who has also admitted breaching these rules; and for Scotland’s chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood.
“Can you tell me why these others have escaped attention of the police?”
Mr Ferguson, whose modelling informed the government’s lockdown measures, resigned after it was revealed he had broken those rules to meet with his married mistress. London’s Metropolitan Police Service confirmed on Wednesday that while his actions were “disappointing”, they would not be taking matters with Ferguson further.
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