A report has found while the number of illegal crossings of the English Channel continues to rise increased, the number of migrants actually being deported by the British government has fallen.
Since the start of 2018 over 3,200 illegal boat migrants are known to have successfully reached British shores. During that same time period, the Home Office has deported just 155 people, despite promises from Prime Minister Boris Johnson that his government would send illegal migrants back to France, Migration Watch UK found.
The London-based research and pressure group noted that as opposed to previous years, people smugglers and migrants are no longer attempting to cross the English Channel secretly, but rather are intentionally trying to be ‘intercepted’ by the British Border Force, as they will be safely brought ashore and given the opportunity to apply for Asylum.
“If police catch you, they never send you back. It’s secure to go, no danger” an Afghani people smuggler told The Sun.
“Criminals exploit the gaps and weaknesses in our immigration and asylum regimes to pile people into flimsy craft in return for huge sums of money. Migrants leave safe and prosperous countries (France and Belgium) and risk their lives with assurances that they will be ‘rescued’ and given asylum in the UK,” Migration Watch UK said.
In the first two months of this year, the number of detected arrivals has more than doubled over the same time period last year. The anti-mass migration think tank suggested that the increase in illegal crossings of the channel could be attributable to the “growing paralysis in immigration enforcement” in which failed asylum seekers typically remain in the country. Of the 200,000 asylum seekers that arrived in Britain between 2004 and 2018, just 2,000 were removed from the country, the report noted.
In response to the growing migrant crisis, Migration Watch UK called on the Boris Johnson’s government to provide a “major boost” in funding for the nation’s immigration enforcement system in order to “substantially increase” the removal of people that have no right to remain in the country, including failed asylum seekers.
The think tank also called on the government to negotiate with France and Belgium, to secure a deal in which all migrants that attempt to cross the English Channel are immediately returned to the country that they set sail from, rather than being brought ashore in Britain.
“The government have had 18 months to deal with the problem of illegal Channel crossings in small boats. Thus far, a solution has not only proved elusive but the situation seems to be getting worse,” said Alp Mehmet, Chairman of Migration Watch UK.
“The time for decisive action cannot be ducked any longer. With the public in a pandemic lockdown, it is surely not expecting too much for them to be confident that their borders are secure,” Mehmet added.
Though a clear majority of the British public believe that those entering the country illegally should be removed, there has been little appetite in the British media establishment to address with the growing problem.
Brexit Part leader Nigel Farage has repeatedly condemned the media’s response to the migration “scandal” as well as the government’s refusal to shut down the nation’s borders, despite demanding British citizens remain under lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.
“The message from Boris Johnson’s government to those currently sheltering in Europe but determined to find their way here is loud and clear: illegal immigration into the UK is now easily worth the price demanded by the people-smuggling gangs,” Farage said.
Follow Kurt on Twitter at @KurtZindulka
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