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BA clear sky appeared over Dover, and for the crew of the Valiant who was anchored outside the harbour fence, it was a signal to start preparations for action. Sunny weather means that more immigrants will flock to them soon. This is a familiar routine for those on the cutting machine of the border forces. Hundreds of asylum-seekers have come ashore this year, with 65 in the last Sunday alone.
So far, 6,000 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats in the first six months of this year. The number for the whole year of 2020 is 8,417, and it is expected that the total will be overshadowed by the clear weather in the next two months. Treacherous ferry More tempting.
The Secretary of the Interior Priti Patel has pinned her political career on stopping these border crossings.Last Tuesday, she was looking forward to it Nationality and Border Act The focus of the publication is to prevent border crossings. Critics argue that her bill relies on twisted logic. They stated that by making it more difficult to apply for asylum, it is more likely to force asylum seekers to use smugglers who plan strait crossings. At the same time, the Ministry of the Interior has been increasingly accused of “race to the bottom” as a critic called it yesterday.
This Observer I heard last week that newly arrived unaccompanied minors were classified as adults after conducting a so-called complex age assessment interview over the phone, but the accusation was denied work from homeThe other arrivals are said to be housed in “unsafe” houses, without paperwork, and without initial interviews with immigration officials.Elsewhere, people detained in abandoned barracks received work from home The document warns that they will face deportation to another country based on an agreement that has not been signed by any country so far. Mental health is a growing problem; a young man who was waiting for an asylum decision after arriving in the UK in 2014 told his doctor last week that he would rather die.
All these details are related to Patel’s determination to reform the asylum system in the so-called “crisis” of the strait crossing. But what if there is no crisis in the first place?
Far away from the white cliffs of Dover, statistics provide a more nuanced picture than predicted by the Department of the Interior. First, the current number of asylum seekers is relatively small. Last year’s record Strait crossings accounted for only one-tenth of UK asylum applications in 2002.
In the 12 months to April, 26,903 asylum applications were received, a decrease of 24% from the previous year. This in itself pales in comparison to the number of immigrants entering the UK. In 2019, about 680,000 long-term international immigrants entered the UK, and these people changed their country of residence for at least one year.
These data encourage some people to believe that the Strait “crisis” is a deliberate political construction. They said that the slow response to processing asylum applications resulted in a record backlog of 109,000 cases, which in turn gave the Ministry of Interior the impression that the system is being overwhelmed by the influx of people.
Chai Patel, Director of Legal Policy of the Joint Commission on Immigration Welfare, said: “The crisis at the strait crossing was entirely caused by Pritty Patel because she refused to process their asylum applications or place them in shelters- But create these Quasi-veterans concentration camp These conditions are very bad and make it a more obvious crisis. In my opinion, this is a well-thought-out plan. “
Compared with our EU neighbors, the number of asylums in the UK is not large, and he is not the only one who noticed this. In terms of the number of asylum applications per capita, the UK ranks 17th among 28 European countries. For example, the number of applicants in Germany last year exceeded 102,000.
Experts also said that it is necessary to look at the strait crossing in the context of how immigrants enter the UK, believing that travel by boat is simply replacing the truck that was once the preferred route to try to get off. “There are more people crossing by boat than before, but this is because all other routes have largely stopped,” Chapatel said.
Following Closing the Calais Immigration Camp In October 2016, the number of trucks entering the UK appeared to have fallen sharply. The data for the Port of Calais, the Port of Dunkirk and the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles dropped from 56,000 attempts in 2016 to 32,000 three years later. During the pandemic, these numbers may decline further. However, compared with the number of people crossing by boat, the Home Office will not disclose how many migrants have been intercepted in France recently or how many migrants have been after the “truck dropped” in the UK.
Clare Moseley of the charity Care4Calais stated that 39 Vietnamese died in a Essex truck trailer It worked in October 2019. She said that the Vietnamese are one of the ethnic groups that switched from trucks to boats across the strait. “It’s easier,” she said.
Asylum seekers transported to Dover Wharf by vessels such as Valiant may feel relieved when they arrive at their destination.However, it is increasingly a beginning Bleak process“The goal of the Ministry of the Interior is not to give asylum and expel people. Shouldn’t it ask how it operates the system efficiently and fairly?” Mosley said.
The hotel was again packed with people waiting for a decision. Five other people were recently seconded to detain asylum-seekers. Care4Calais heard that newcomers were placed in the property without screening interviews and documents from immigration officials.
At the Napier Barracks in Kent, asylum seekers were placed in harsh conditions. Residents said they had received a “notice of intent” warning that anyone who passed through a safe country such as France on the way to the UK would be sent back there . However, the Ministry of the Interior failed to persuade a safe country to accept its plan.
Maddie Harris of the human rights organization Human Rights Network said these threats have brought new suffering to camp residents. “This is another way to put the case on hold, causing delays. No one knows how this will end.”
Unaccompanied children arriving by boat are not immune. Patel’s proposal advocates the use of new age assessments to identify adults posing as children. However, lawyers warned that the Ministry of the Interior has begun to classify children as adults.
Stuart Luke of InstaLaw law firm said that the recent announcement that Kent’s unit for unaccompanied children is full means that every newcomer who claims to be a child will be controversial. On Wednesday morning, Luke said he had just met an underage newcomer, and this was one of 42 similar cases his company accepted last week.
He said the young man was immediately detained at the immigration relocation center near Gatwick Airport and was interviewed by officials over the phone. “That telephone interview caused the Ministry of the Interior to say:’We don’t believe you are a child’ but didn’t even see them. They usually question someone’s age based on appearance, behavior, and performance, but they don’t even observe them,” He says.
Luke added that although the Ministry of the Interior quickly announced the number of its controversial age-assessment cases, it ignored how many decisions it subsequently overturned. “It is incorrect to say that all these people are lying about their age,” he said. He estimates that out of every 100 disputed cases, at least 75 are overturned, which is good for the child.
Others warned that the Ministry of the Interior’s practices are damaging the mental health of unaccompanied minors. Bridget Chapman has been working with refugee children since 2005 and said the situation has never been so bad. “If you make your child suffer more trauma, then you must assume that this is intentional.”
Chapman of the Kent Refugee Action Network said that the Ministry of the Interior’s attempts to make obtaining asylum more difficult caused tremendous pressure. “The despair is getting higher and higher, and people talk about suicide and self-harm.”
She recounted a recent incident involving a young man she was helping, who was still waiting for an asylum decision seven years later. “He has learning difficulties and it is impossible to return to his country of origin. Yesterday I sat with him for a medical evaluation because he told the doctor that he often considers how to commit suicide.”
Many people hope that much of Patel’s asylum blueprint may fall apart. Last Thursday, the Crown Prosecutor’s Office announced that it would no longer prosecute immigrants, but instead focus on smugglers, which defeated her plan.
Her proposal also gives border troops new powers to transfer ships suspected of carrying illegal immigrants. Volunteers from the Channel Rescue organization in Dover hope that border officials will oppose the instructions to stop rescuing vulnerable groups. “It’s always possible that people will say that we are not going to do this,” said volunteer Kim Bryan.
More broadly, Patel’s proposals ignore the fact that they will not prevent the global factors that drive immigration. “We will not stop people from embarking on this journey, so the question is: how do we deal with it so that people feel that they have a choice that does not involve them risking their lives?” Chapman said.
Back in Dover, the Valiant stayed outside the port all Friday. A gust of wind blew by, making the ferry dangerous. Soon the sun will return, and the Valiant will disappear in the strait, looking for the next human cargo.
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