Desperate migrants drift to Britain
By Stefan J. Bos
British and French
officials say, men, women, and children are using increasingly desperate
measures to reach Britain. In the latest case, four migrants tried to
cross the English Channel on a makeshift raft made from two windsurfing
boards tied together. They were using shovels as paddles.
The
migrants were spotted in difficulty by a ferry operator off Calais in
the early morning hours local time. They managed to return safely to
France after the coastguard was alerted.
The British Home
Office also revealed that three further vessels carrying a total of 40
migrants did manage to reach British waters, and were brought to Dover.
Among them a group of 11 men and four women who presented themselves as
Iranian and Iraqi nationals. They were intercepted by a Border Force
early Wednesday.
Another vessel was carrying ten men and five
women, who said they were Iranian, Afghani and Syrian nationals, was
intercepted about 45 minutes later. And a boat was discovered carrying
ten men who said they were from Iran, Yemen, and Syria.
Interviews held
They were all brought to Dover and transferred to immigration
officials for interviews. But for many, their journey will end where it
began: in France, which has been struggling to cope with migrants
fleeing war, persecution, and poverty.
The French authorities stopped about 35 individuals from making
the crossing on Wednesday. But it seemed a small number compared to the
at least nearly 1,500 migrants who authorities claim crossed to Britain
while the nation was in a coronavirus lockdown.
In a record for
a single day, 166 migrants reportedly arrived off the Kent coast in
seven small boats on June 3. Officials say the total for 2020 so far is
now more than 1,900.
Earlier, the fiercely anti-migration
politician Nigel Farage traveled offshore to film an overcrowded dinghy
bring handed over to the British Border Force. "You can see the boat is
absolutely packed. All of them have been charged a minimum of 5,000 euro
each by the criminal gangs to make this crossing," he said, speaking
from a boat.
Nearly sinking
"You can't believe when you see how close the water is to the edge. I
mean how massively overcrowded this is. We could put them on the tow.
But there is no point because we know the border force is on its way
from Dover, so we just kind of keep guard here," Farage added.
However, Britain's Minister for Immigration Compliance and the
Courts, Chris Philp, said in a statement that France had stopped more
than 500 migrants from crossing the Channel in April.
He stressed there is close cooperation with France.
To ensure that human smugglers using misery to make money, who he called "ruthless criminals" would face justice.
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2020-06/migrants-britain-france-channel-traffickers.html
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