To think the RNLI are 100% in the right

[SanFranBear]

I've just seen this story on the BBC news homepage where the RNLI are being accused of acting as a taxi service for migrants trying to enter the UK on small boats from Europe.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8dejyg4l37o

The organisation and volunteers quite rightly have responded to say they make no apologies for saving lives at sea and that their work has no political motivation.

Damn straight - one of the volunteers further down the article explains the profound impact he feels of encountering people struggling in our waters.

It makes me wonder what critics of the service expect them to do - just sail away, leaving the people to die? Pick them up and cross the channel to dump them back 'where they came from'?

What is wrong with them? Where is their compassion? Regardless of your thoughts on immigration, this is so cold and inhuman....

Indeed.

Mum’s neighbour’s friend’s aunt. And so it spirals.

Repeating this nonsense again and again doesn’t make it true.

There will have been a trans character in hospital staff too.

Then why are they travelling by boat? A boat without a transponder, without voyage plan logged, without proper safety equipment?

what is preventing train, ferry or airplane travel?

Explain.

It is true.

It isn’t legal to enter the UK without the correct documentation.

Denying it doesn’t change this.

Because they have no access to safe and legal routes to get to the UK

They have to be on British soil to claim asylum.

https://news.sky.com/story/suella-braverman-fails-to-explain-how-asylum-seekers-can-get-to-uk-safely-and-legally-12753780

It isn’t legal UNLESS it’s to claim asylum and you do so as soon as practicable.
Much like killing someone is illegal UNLESS you are defending yourself from them trying to kill you.
As I’ve said before.
It’s not rocket science.

https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/people-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy9xyn30yj0o

The data source for this DM is Gov Dept of education. There are schools where NO students speak English at home. Britain failing miserably at integrating new arrivals, my (rural) council is trying to hire teachers, social workers, interpreters with language skills not taught at GCSE/Alevel. The children’s social care is overwhelmed. Go on Gov.uk job search or recruitment websites.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14752633/amp/schools-pupils-dont-speak-English-language-map.html

@Rattytouille I don’t understand why there can’t be a law which states “if you arrive here illegally by boat, you automatically lose your right to apply for asylum”.

It's very very simple. There is no way to apply for asylum in the UK from outside the UK. Without a visa or other right of entry you cannot hop on a "legitimate" plane, boat or train. It is almost impossible to get a visa or other entry document, so you would be refused boarding on any other form of transport. And that's to say nothing of potentially having to explain to your government why you are nipping down to the British embassy to file your asylum claim, or having your emails etc., intercepted with a full explanatiopn of why your government are absuing your human rights, torturing your minority or whatever your grounds are.

Your question is framed poorly. There is NO legitimate route to claim asylum from outside the UK. The fastest way to stop the boats, undermine the gangs, save lives AND be able to introduce a law that says if you arrive illegally you will be immediately deported is to introduce safe asylum routes from outside the country. That way anyone with a legitimate claim can make it, and anyone getting in a boat knows they will be deported when caught.

Just be aware of the fact that between 2018 and 2024, the asylum grant rate for people who arrived by small boat was 68%, higher than the grant rate for all asylum applicants! So the claims that people arriving in small boats are not genuine asylum seekers etc., etc., are largely incorrect. But I doubt you were interested in any of those facts because the rest of your post was fictitious.

It still isn’t legal to arrive without documentation. It is as simple as that.

UNLESS it’s to claim asylum.
Simple as that.

Nor should there be. Asylum should be claimed in the first safe country you arrive at. Therefore, none arriving in the UK are legitimate.

These laws were made in a different era and are no longer fit for purpose in the age of mass economic migration.

Yes Poland for example simply has no migrant crisis - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/D4MeK-1el-U

Almost every migrant we accept will cost us £1million by the time they die according to OBR figures. Multiply that by the number coming here and it's hundreds of billions per year... completely unaffordable. The country is broke with no housing for those already here yet still we allow them to come. No one gives a stuff about the poor in this country.

No it isn’t. Google it.

Unsurprisingly, the law allows a defence of reasonable excuse for arriving without documents which is particularly applicable to asylum seekers who may have been forced to leave their homes quickly and therefore have a good reason not to have documents.

Your last sentence says it all - no one cares about the poor in this country. What does that say about us as a nation?

Because if you are applying for asylum, you are not arriving illegally, even it is by boat. Also because, with very limited exceptions, there is no way to apply for asylum from outside the UK, so we would be breaking serious treaty obligations if in effect we stopped taking asylum seekers at all.

It wouldn't be much of a functioning society if the people needing help on the sea were abandoned to drown in contravention of international law that has been in existence for centuries and morally for thousands on the grounds that they might intend to seek asylum.

No, because if they are illegal migrants they will be sent back, and will be in detention until then, so they don't need charity support.

If they are legal migrants because they are seeking asylum then yes, I'm supporting charities that support them.

You think I haven’t looked at stuff before I post it?

What charities support “illegal” immigrants though? I am not aware of any?

I looked into doing volunteering work with charities supporting refugees and asylum seekers (not the same thing as illegal immigrants) but can find nothing convenient for those with 9-5. I may just have to send money instead.

Shows stats about who are arriving on boats

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-march-2025/how-many-people-are-returned-from-the-uk

Assuming you have googled it already, can you provide a link to back up your claim?