The English Channel

Fatboy123 · 25 Nov 2021 at 10:31

Am heart brokenly sad at what happened in the English Channel yesterday. Utterly appalling!

Listening to the news this morning and was surprised to hear everyone blaming "people traffickers". We have people traffickers because people choose to pay them huge sums of money to do something that they know is illegal. These people are choosing to bypass the legal ways to get into the UK to get into tiny unseaworthy boats despite numerous drownings. France is perfectly safe as were any number of the EU countries passed through on the way to the English Channel.

Seriously what the hell is going on!

AND in other news... UK food bank usage is at a record high and people living in poverty is also on the way up.

Fatboy123 · 25 Nov 2021 at 11:02

Didn't day they were innocent. Just that if they weren't given £5,000 they wouldn't be sticking people in small boats to illegally cross the channel.

Fatboy123 · 25 Nov 2021 at 11:28

jsmoke said:
No life jackets?

At this time of year its hyperthermia regardless of life jacket.

Fatboy123 · 25 Nov 2021 at 11:32

Dyson said:
£5k you say?...

Was reading in I think The Guardian a woman had paid £5,000 to be taken from Istanbul to the UK. She said she'd been hidden in a truck "for a number of days". Was then thrown out and taken to a small boat on the English Channel. She'd refused to get in and was now destitute.

Fatboy123 · 25 Nov 2021 at 11:34

cheesyboy said:
If our government allowed safe and legal crossings, there would be no people traffickers and no deaths.

They do. I recently paid £70 odd for a Eurostar from Paris to London.

Fatboy123 · 25 Nov 2021 at 11:36

diamount said:
The migrants drowned in-this case and I imagine they would survive long enough for the coast guard to pick them up?

Yup, drowning usually follows hyperthermia which at current sea temps would be minutes.

Fatboy123 · 25 Nov 2021 at 11:46

cheesyboy said:
I don't think passport control is quite the same experience for asylum seekers tbh.

Hence the £5,000. These people know what they are doing is illegal.

If I was in Oman and decided to illegally enter Saudi Arabia by paying someone £5,000 would you feel sorry for me if I was sentenced to prison time?

Fatboy123 · 25 Nov 2021 at 12:14

thenewoc said:
The EU should be dealing with the issue rather than looking the other way.

Isn't that the problem though..... People have 100% decided that they want to come to the UK regardless of the EU.

Fatboy123 · 25 Nov 2021 at 13:47

BBC news are reporting that children and a pregnant woman are amongst the victims.

I just can't compute that these people are doing this!

Fatboy123 · 25 Nov 2021 at 14:33

Slam62 said:
The real issue is them getting into the dinghy. I know they want a better life etc but so do lots of people.

You can't save people from themselves.

Thank you for hitting the nail on the head. How do we stop people inc. children getting into dinghies regardless of any asylum system.

Turns out that people are still trying to cross today despite yesterday's tragedy according to the BBC.

Fatboy123 · 25 Nov 2021 at 14:51

cheesyboy said:
It's really simple to imagine the existence of a safe option. It's not like we get holiday makers crossing in a dinghy instead of a ferry.

But isn't that the problem..... these people know they won't qualify for asylum hence people smugglers, dinghies abd large sums of cash.

Fatboy123 · 25 Nov 2021 at 17:36

What happens to failed asylum seekers?

Fatboy123 · 28 Nov 2021 at 12:39

omnomnom said:
Nope

Hasn't that been superceded by Dublin 3?
"The Dublin Regulation (also known as Dublin III) is EU law setting out which country is responsible for looking at an individual’s asylum application. This is usually the country where the asylum seeker first arrives in the EU. The Dublin Regulation applies to EU Member States and Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The UK was bound by the Dublin Regulation until 31 December 2020."