UK Migration Issues

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/03/25/britain-pays-belgium-10m-help-stem-tide-channel-migrants/ Quoting:

Britain pays Belgium £10m to help stem tide of Channel migrants

Britain is paying Belgium £10 million for security and surveillance measures to deter Channel migrants, with the numbers crossing having trebled in three months. The money will help establish a new command centre in Zeebrugge as well as paying for drones, CCTV and police equipment including night vision goggles and beach buggies. It comes after an extra £55 million was handed to France to pay for patrols by 150 more gendarmes and surveillance on French beaches, as well as asylum reception centres placed deep inland to draw migrants away from the coast.

More than 4,000 migrants have so far crossed the Channel this year as people-smugglers exploit warmer spring weather to traffic them in small boats. Some 190 migrants reached the UK on Thursday, bringing the total this year to 4,087 in 132 boats – almost triple the number that had arrived by this time last year.

Phil Douglas, the Border Force director general, told The Telegraph: "Our work with operational counterparts in neighbouring countries is crucial to helping prevent Channel crossings and the organised criminality that comes with it." Referring to the £10 million for Belgium, he said: "This security funding will help colleagues prevent and deter people before they attempt to travel in a small boat, as well as quickly detect illegal activity at the Belgian border." Belgium has become not only a launching base for people-smugglers as they seek to evade security patrols on French beaches but also a transition route for migrants transported from safe houses in Germany on the night of their Channel crossing attempts.

The UK has so far spent £5 million installing security fences, CCTV, lighting and police equipment to secure the perimeter of Zeebrugge and counter migrants who have entered the port illegally. It follows the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people after they were illegally brought into the UK in a lorry container from Zeebrugge in the early hours of October 23, 2019. Their bodies were discovered at an industrial estate in Grays, Essex, shortly after arrival. The money will also help establish a command and operational response centre in Zeebrugge. It is due to be operational by summer, and Home Office officials said it would enable a faster response by security personnel to "emerging threats" on the fence-line or within the port itself.

A record 28,526 migrants reached the UK last year. This month alone has seen 2,603 arrive – triple the amount in the same month last year. Officials have privately estimated that numbers could reach 65,000 this year unless Border Force can stem the surge. Tom Pursglove, the minister for tackling illegal migration, said: "The rise in dangerous Channel crossings is unacceptable. Not only are they an overt abuse of our immigration laws, but they also impact on the UK taxpayer, risk lives and our ability to help refugees come to the UK via safe and legal routes. Rightly, the British public has had enough."

MPs voted through a series of controversial plans to combat the crossings earlier this week, including criminalising all those found in the Channel without prior permission to enter the UK. They also approved the Government's plans to process asylum seekers offshore despite a rebellion.

The Court of Appeal (the second highest court) has ruled that the Government's scheme to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda for processing is unlawful due to Rwanda not having proved it is a safe country. The Government says it will appeal against this decision.

The best way to stem the tide of boat migrants is to not to pick up the boats. Push them back out to sea enough times, and they'll stop on their own.

OsricPearl wrote:The best way to stem the tide of boat migrants is to not to pick up the boats. Push them back out to sea enough times, and they'll stop on their own.

The Government had intended to start doing that but dropped the plan in the face of a legal challenge:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61224309