To think people who want "safe routes to migration" into the UK are hopelessly naive

[ForestGoblin]

We could spend every penny of public money on bringing refugees to the UK in comfy and safe boats and planes. We could make it mandatory for every home to provide accommodation and food. We could ban healthcare for anyone except refugees.

And there would still be thousands and thousands of boat crossings every year and millions more people languishing in bad situations and trying to figure out how to get here or elsewhere in northern Europe.

It's a crap situation. Life is bad. I feel dreadful for them.

But "safe routes" is a load of glib nonsense that can't work.

they say another reason the boats have stopped is because the countries they were coming from have become better places to live.......

Really? Blimey do they say that

Why didn’t Aus Labor run on those grounds? Let’s drop those policies we originally objected to and no one will come as it’s all dandy now

Why is it now a bi partisan approach?

I’d say Aus are fully aware of how attractive it is as a place to live, and how many would like to do so by non work visa methods, hence their immigration policies.

So what will happen to those 12k in PNG ?

...You ve previously used "outlier" to describe those who don't agree with the Australian solution and yet... ....

Australia is the only country in the world with a policy of mandatory detention and offshore processing of asylum seekers who arrive without a valid visa

I don't disagree its a policy that has worked but sinking the boats in the English Channel would very quickly stop x channel migration too, depends on whether you side with what is right or what is wrong.

However, i do think that very soon, your view will win out and we will see extremely harsh measures used against asylum seekers across Europe including murder.

Where are you getting 12k in PNG from Aus from?

2021 Australia will end offshore processing on PNG by the end of the year, leaving Nauru as its sole regional processing centre.

However, 124 asylum seekers and refugees remain held in PNG, mainly in Port Moresby.

Those still held in PNG will be allowed to transfer to Nauru if they choose

and

Papua New Guinea hosts some 11,800 asylum seekers and refugees. Around 100 people were transferred there under PNG's former regional processing arrangement with Australia, most from Indonesia.

Are you sure you have the right figures?

https://www.unhcr.org/countries/papua-new-guinea#:~:text=Papua%20New%20Guinea%20hosts%20some,with%20Australia%2C%20most%20from%20Indonesia.

Regarding murder we are already seeing that.

Children are thrown overboard already.

I recently saw some news item claiming migrants were being held in outside 'cages' during a heatwave in the Arizona desert, so it is really alarming to think where things might end up. So many people are on the move, competing for a place in relatively stable, wealthier countries it seems.

It is heartening to hear that posters are happy for asylum seekers to come here and contribute to society. Isn't it a shame that the government both do not allow asylum seekers to work, even in a voluntary capacity and have policies designed to ensure that asylum applications take far, far too long, so it is years before some of them are able to contribute to society.

The limited sample of HKers who I know who have moved here are in their 50s or older and have moved to the UK to retire.
Quite why tthere are so many threads about 50,000 asylum seekers and not 5million Chinese I dont' know.

Feel free to describe how a surgeon in Syria or Afganistan would apply.
Starting perhaps by describing how they would take the mandatory SELT?

Possibly because the majority were born into a British colony and considered themselves British until 1997

There was a good bit this morning on Today programme describing the efforts French police go with night vision and spotters

The French spokeswoman ended the call with if people think we can catch everyone they’re ‘totally delusional’

The idea that the French can police more is as pie in the sky as more safe routes stopping boats, or being able to say no to asylum seekers under international law, or French saying oh yes we’ll have them back

People might go for it as not everyone knows the law or the process but there’s more on it at least and hopefully people listening

There are by some estimates over a million empty homes in the UK, the government's own estimate is that there are 700,000 empty homes.

There is not a housing shortage in the UK. There is a problem of gross inequality in its distribution.

13 years ago, there were over 10000 more NHS beds. There were not long waiting lists and the NHS was not in the crisis it is now.
What happened over those 13 years? Why did inequality in the UK increase dramatically in that time.

A medium size town worth of asylum seekers arriving, is going to make a trivial difference to these problems, whilst the rich, like the Prime Minister think it is fine to pay a smaller proportion of their income in tax than teachers and nurses.

For the avoidance of any doubt it is perfectly legal in UK law to transit one or more other countries before making an asylum claim in the UK.

This explains the law.

https://levinslaw.co.uk/dinghies-in-the-channel-illegal-entrants-and-immigration-offences/

By all means though put forward an argument to change the law, because you do not want to help people fleeing persecution.

7 years ago we had an agreement with France that meant that if the UK government had chosen to use it we could have returned failed asylum seekers to France.

I wonder what changed that means that such an agreement no longer exists.

I wonder how often it was used? Can you say

Antartica.

How many people will France take back?

To those pp who think it’s viable

How could I have forgotten that excellent suggestion? Suella will be right on it.

It’s about as viable as some of the straight up suggestions on here tbf

Thats neither here nor there, they aren't British, they are Chinese now or they would be able to claim benefits when here & the law was changed to inc descendants.

They were able to leave and come to the UK after the handover to China but chose not too, until many now old and will require looking after.

By al means look after the student protestors but people who have supported the Chinese state all their lives too...? no.

@Alexandra2001 They were able to leave and come to the UK after the handover to China but chose not too, until many now old and will require looking after. what are you talking about? HK Chinese were not offered British passports and refused them, WE refused to give them British passports.

At last, some good news;

heepochtimes.com/mkt_app/world/4-charged-with-manslaughter-after-6-illegal-immigrants-drowned-in-channel-5471860?utm_source=morningbriefnoe&src_src=morningbriefnoe&utm_campaign=UK_mb-2023-08-18&src_cmp=UK_mb-2023-08-18&utm_medium=email&est=t3bJWh8FrQLqNiZkFfFlgbbzkiA5VHXv1G5pIA8wKSa9LSrdQYlVKLiMWKRru7yYMnLVOQ%3D%3D&utm_term=news&utm_content=2

Let's try again;

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/world/4-charged-with-manslaughter-after-6-illegal-immigrants-drowned-in-channel-5471860?utm_source=morningbriefnoe&src_src=morningbriefnoe&utm_campaign=UK_mb-2023-08-18&src_cmp=UK_mb-2023-08-18&utm_medium=email&est=t3bJWh8FrQLqNiZkFfFlgbbzkiA5VHXv1G5pIA8wKSa9LSrdQYlVKLiMWKRru7yYMnLVOQ%3D%3D&utm_term=news&utm_content=2

Anyone who was British overseas territories citizen by connection with HK could register for a British National Overseas citizenship, before 1st July 1997... get a passport and come here is they wished, subject to certain restrictions.

Presumably they were all perfectly happy there for the last 26 years but now older....

Its a nuts policy, we bang on about 100k black people coming to the UK as apparently we cannot afford it but very happy to have upwards of 5m HK come here... & remember we changed the law to allow this/make it easy, after 5 years become 100% British citizens too.

I didn’t say it was illegal to claim asylum in the UK after crossing other safe countries.
I was responding to PP who said those asylum seekers must have been really desperate to escape their home since they‘d chosen to embark on such a dangerous boat journey.
I was just pointing out that where their boat journey started (France) wasn’t the home that they were escaping, but a safe country.