O/T:- Boat People

[frenchmagpie]

I'm at a loss as to why France should pounce on a group of people travelling through the country to make transit to UK ? What processing was required ? How do we identify who to process ? Do you want to be processed next time you go to Europe ?
You should wipe the froth from your lips and post some threads about the appalling homeless problem in UK, how poor kids aren't getting enough to eat, hospital workers have been dying because PPE contracts were given to Tory mates, the worst recession in Europe, worst COVID death rates and on and on. But of course you won't because Farage has taken some photos of black-faced people in dinghies.
We're doing OK over here and quite honestly don't give a toss about UK's made up 'migrant crisis'. You took back control, sort it out.

[Old_pie]

I'm at a loss as to why France should pounce on a group of people travelling through the country to make transit to UK ? What processing was required ? How do we identify who to process ? Do you want to be processed next time you go to Europe ?

They are queue jumping. They have already reached safety. Which country and how they are processed should have been up to the EU. Many are camped in Calais. There are people who are using the proper channels to try to get to Britain and not cheat their way here. If they cheat their way here what's the odds that they will cheat when they get here? Are we allowed to send them to the Falklands? A few sent over there will put a halt to the cheating and then the rest can apply through proper channels instead of making the lives of train operators, caravan owners and lorry drivers an ordeal.

If the French don't know who is in their country - well that's open border policy for you because the entry points are obviously weak.

We have an obligation to both keep our citizens safe and to deter people putting themselves at risk in our waters.

[frenchmagpie]

We have plenty of asylum seekers round here. Very nice people, all well settled and making themselves part of the community. Our rural villages need them and they are generally welcome. We don't treat them like vermin. If they CHOOSE to apply for asylum here they are generally treated well. The EU has some issues handling the numbers particularly on the southern borders but that is down to the numbers concentrated there and local issues. There are problems in Calais because those people want to go to UK. Usually for family/language reasons. But UK won't participate in the resettlement programmes and has now scuttled away from the EU so sees itself as special. I believe you promised to take a number of children under an agreed scheme and ended up with about 3.
They can't use the proper channels becasue they want to be in UK and UK insists the only proper channel is to apply where you first land. But many choose not to. Why should we go out of our way to identify them, how can we differentiate an asylum seeker from a holidaymaker ? We're not so obsessed about borders as you lot either.
The simple solution is for the UK to accept these people and set up facilities on the Continent for them to apply for asylum with a reasonable prospect of being accepted. But of course you have Farage and the Daily Mail and you've all become followers of the mantra so that will never happen. It's too easy a target to distract your tiny minds from the real issues like being shafted by billionnaires and their Tory party.
So if you wish to think a few people being forced to risk their lives in small boats because their homelands have been destroyed by the same billionnaires then that's their problem and yours for not helping them. But don't expect the EU is going to be worried by your hysteria.

[SwalePie]

We have plenty of asylum seekers round here. Very nice people, all well settled and making themselves part of the community. Our rural villages need them and they are generally welcome. We don't treat them like vermin. If they CHOOSE to apply for asylum here they are generally treated well. The EU has some issues handling the numbers particularly on the southern borders but that is down to the numbers concentrated there and local issues. There are problems in Calais because those people want to go to UK. Usually for family/language reasons. But UK won't participate in the resettlement programmes and has now scuttled away from the EU so sees itself as special. I believe you promised to take a number of children under an agreed scheme and ended up with about 3.
They can't use the proper channels becasue they want to be in UK and UK insists the only proper channel is to apply where you first land. But many choose not to. Why should we go out of our way to identify them, how can we differentiate an asylum seeker from a holidaymaker ? We're not so obsessed about borders as you lot either.
The simple solution is for the UK to accept these people and set up facilities on the Continent for them to apply for asylum with a reasonable prospect of being accepted. But of course you have Farage and the Daily Mail and you've all become followers of the mantra so that will never happen. It's too easy a target to distract your tiny minds from the real issues like being shafted by billionnaires and their Tory party.
So if you wish to think a few people being forced to risk their lives in small boats because their homelands have been destroyed by the same billionnaires then that's their problem and yours for not helping them. But don't expect the EU is going to be worried by your hysteria.

We're not all like that you know!

[Old_pie]

So if you wish to think a few people being forced to risk their lives in small boats because their homelands have been destroyed by the same billionnaires then that's their problem and yours for not helping them. But don't expect the EU is going to be worried by your hysteria.

Forced? I'm not sure you understand the process.

[BigFatPie]

Forced? I'm not sure you understand the process.

You reckon they leave their homes and risk their lives in all sorts of contraptions for a laugh then?

[Old_pie]

You reckon they leave their homes and risk their lives in all sorts of contraptions for a laugh then?

They are not forced into an unworthy sea vessel to get to the UK across the Channel and you well know that is what I meant.

[BigFatPie]

They are not forced into an unworthy sea vessel to get to the UK across the Channel and you well know that is what I meant.

Is there a way they can claim asylum in the UK that doesn’t involve getting into an unworthy sea vessel? I genuinely don’t know, so would be interested in the answer.

[drillerpie]

Frenchmagpie: from reading your posts it seeems you have a very positive view about how France treats migrants, which I have to say is very different from what is reported in Italy where numerous abuses have been recorded at Ventimiglia (migrants having SIM cards confiscated so they can't communicate, soles of shoes cut so they can't walk, being held in unsanitary conditions, baton charging migrants into the sea, suspending Schengen etc).

This is not to say that the same couldn't happen in the UK if the numbers were comparable, or that Italy is any better, just to say that from my understanding things aren't as good as you're making them out to be.

I think it's accurate to say that the UK tries to keep the migrants in France, France tries to keep them in Italy, Italy tries to keep them in Libya.

I think this new flux of immigration is a very complex phenomenon with many aspects that need to be considered, and which is being discussed in very (too?) simple terms here.

One thing is for certain - it isn't going away. If anything it is going to become more and more relevant as disparities in natural resources, economic opportunity and now Covid 19 become more pronounced.