To want to know why the numbers crossing in small boats has increased?

[Neededanewuserhandle]

I have seen it argued that it's Brexit since we left the Dublin agreement that allowed us to return people to the EU. But we hardly ever used that - in fact the figures suggest we ended up with more people returned to us than we sent "back" to EU countries.

Of course it's hard to know the truth, but I find it hard to imagine that the people in the boats and the smuggling gangs have researched the provisions of the Dublin agreement.

The majority of boat arrivals are apparently from Albania - we have a formal agreement for returning them but it doesn't seem to be deterring people from coming.

AIBU to wish there was a way for ordinary people to get hold of the truth rather than partisan opinions from all sides dressed up as pretend facts?

Well since they are being given the right to stay here and work, why wouldn't they come? That what economic migrants want

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/19/channel-migrants-given-right-to-work/

Knowing that there is the chance of getting work here and not being sent to Rwanda, encourages more migrants to make the journey

Because that’s how it’s intended to be. It is not accident. Illegal migration is organized crime. It happens because those who are meant to stop it profit from it. No organized crime can take place without politicians, security services, civil servants and officials being in on it. It simply cannot happen without their support. They are all liking their pockets while the taxpayer picks up the tab for illegal economic migration.

They other reason is that high migration helps with managing economic growth numbers. Even though on average everyone becomes poorer. The irony is that this government has failed to achieve economic growth even with sky high immigration.

Our government, high ranking civil servants and security officials are incompetent, corrupt bastards.

The numbers aren’t huge, the amount in the last year is less than the amount of people who watch Man Utd at at one home game. Ignore phrases like “swarms of refugees” it’s bollocks.

If we care so much about these people endangering their lives on boats, we could set up ways for them to apply for asylum from their own Countries. At the moment they have to come here to apply. We could be processing applications before they arrive.

Because the reasons that people come over on small boats are complex, and haven't changed just because legislation has.I don't know what kind of "truth" you're looking for beyond the statistics. Small boat arrivals are relatively very few, and our economy is currently reliant on migration. Essentially, it's not really a problem, so they don't need to solve it.

Yes, declining GDP per capita, an ever increasing number of low skilled migrant and inactive indigenous population is not really a problem. Oh dear.

Since the returns agreement the numbers of Albanian people crossing has decreased.

The increase is displacements from war torn countries in general.

I'm guessing it's because you only have to read the news to see how unstable the world has become.

And Rwanda isn't the deterrent they think it'll be.

If your willing to risk your life fleeing to safety in a rib across the channel - possibly being 1 of 200 people maybe being deported to Rwanda at some fictional time in the future won't put you off.

These are desperate people willing to take a chance who are victims to the gangs because it's their only chance.

Absolutely.

Not to mention free bed and board.

Small boat crossings seem to me to have increased since the government decided to make it harder for people to cross the Channel by other means such as ferries in order to perfectly legally claim asylum.

Of course those are problems, but they are not necessarily related to, or caused by specifically small boats migration. Its important not to conflate all migration with small boats migration.

What's the point in us having an army if they can't stand along our coast and defend our borders?

We should be bringing asylum seeking women & children directly from war torn areas and refusing to let these gangs of young men land.

What a disgusting comment

Any particular reason why a year old thread was bumped @AliceA2021 ?

Were the more recent ones not to your liking?

You'd best let the government know that there are gangs of young men trying to land, last time I checked the government's figures showed that somewhere about 75% of asylum seekers were being given leave to remain in the UK on first deicision, a proportion that will rise on appeal.

The OP is out of date. Numbers have dropped. Mainly because of the deal with Albanian government.
Would love to know how Civil Servants are ‘lining their pockets’ 😂.

1. The increase is mainly because the ‘service’ was offered. The traffickers got organised and were able to exploit then create a demand for their services How else would a random young migrant from halfway across the world end up on a boat? The service is advertised widely across the world and there is a massive demand for it. Not just UK destinations of course.
2. It’s entirely impractical to expect all destination countries to examine asylum claims for people abroad. For free? For everyone? There have been schemes to try and help specific groups in refugee camps but they can’t do much while the system is swamped with all the self selected people.

These people are coming from FRANCE.

@heartofglass23 would you be so kind as to show us where in UK and International law it says that young men do not have the same rights to apply for asylum as any other group?

Thanks.

@KinS24 I think most people are aware that those crossing the Channel start the crossing in France, it is after all the country that is nearest the UK across the Channel.

Are you aware that UK and international law (the latter at the insistence of the UK) is very clear that transit through a third country should have no impact on someone's claim for asylum?

I find Migration Watch UK website great for information on numbers crossing. It's updated regularly.

To be honest the boat crossings are a drop in the ocean compared to the real problem, which is unsustainable LEGAL migration.

I’m an immigrant, and even I can see that the amount of low skilled workers, students and all their dependants is far too high for UK infrastructure to keep up with.

It also seems like a bit of a stupid solution to the problem it is supposed to be a solution to, an aging population. Birth rates are going down because the standard of living is so much worse now for everyone, gp surgeries, hospitals, schools and housing cannot cope. I know the argument is that the high level of immigration is needed to fill jobs at these places…to cope with the demand high levels of immigration are causing. These people are all bringing dependents, and having on average more children, so are adding far more pressure to the system than they release.

And these people are all going to age to, so what do we do then?

They have had the right to work, if their case has not been resolved for a year, and only in shortage occupations for ages.

But I guess you forgot to mention that?

Do you know how many refugees there are in the WORLD?

• According to UNHCR, 108.4 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide as of the end of 20221. This includes:35.3 million refugees
• 62.5 million internally displaced people
• 5.4 million asylum seekers
• 5.2 million people in need of international protection, a majority from Venezuela1

There have been an increase in wars, conflicts. Syria, Afghanistan.

Most people stay in countries next to the one they flee from.

The numbers coming here are a tiny tiny tiny fraction of the total.

Refugee Statistics | USA for UNHCR (unrefugees.org)

Yes. I saw a statistic this week that of all migrants who have arrived in the UK in the past 12 months, only 6% arrived on a small boat. The vast majority are legal migrants.

It'sGettingWeird "...we could set up ways for them to apply for asylum from their own Countries. At the moment they have to come here to apply. We could be processing applications before they arrive."
I've heard this suggestion before and I just can't wrap my head around how this is expected to work.
The asylum-seeking families I work with in my professional capacity are invariably fleeing persecution or are being displaced by war or other internal conflict, in many regions fuelled by a changing climate. The circumstances prior to leaving their country of origin were definitely not conducive to engaging with local services; often non-existent, corrupt or severely disrupted by conflict, in order to make remote applications for asylum. For many, the displacement has been gradual: they have had no intention to flee their homes despite advancing conflict or intensifying persecution, hoping it will somehow resolve or spare their family. When this has proven not to be the case, they have fled their homes to a neighbouring area in the hope it would be temporary, that conflict might blow over and they would be able to return home, and so becoming internally displaced in the process. Their situation worsens dramatically as they are already homeless and without resources before even leaving their country of origin. Claiming asylum in a foreign safe country was never a 'game plan' yet as conflict encroaches and persecution persists, people find themselves with very few options.

"Claiming asylum in a foreign safe country was never a 'game plan' yet as conflict encroaches and persecution persists, people find themselves with very few options."

If people have seen The Handmaid's Tale, at what point do you flee and how do you claim asylum?

I think we have been so so lucky not to have been invaded and to have lived under democracy. I don't think many people can really imagine the lives many people live in countries with civil war, repression etc.

I wonder if an ITV drama dramatising the lives of refugees fleeing countries today would have an effect. Or would it be dismissed as "woke" .

It is "them" and "us"