Saw immigrants waiting to be rescued from the boat.
- The UK has approved plans to ban ships that illegally transport migrants to its shores.
- The summer surge occurs every year, but because the alternative route has been closed, it is now larger.
- Hundreds of ships attempted to cross from France to Britain this year.
Britain has approved plans to reject ships that illegally transport migrants to its shores, deepening its disagreement with France over how to deal with crowds risking their lives trying to cross the English Channel in small boats.
This year, hundreds of small boats tried to cross one of the busiest waterways in the world, sailing from France to Britain. The summer surge occurs every year, but now because the alternative route has been closed, it is larger than normal.
A British government official, who asked not to be named, said on Thursday that border officials will receive training to force ships away from British waters, but will deploy new strategies only when they think it is safe.
The official said that the British Acting Attorney General Michael Ellis will formulate the legal basis for the new strategy for border officials.
The Minister of the Interior, Pritty Patel, told the French Interior Minister Gerald Dammanen that preventing people from leaving France in small boats was her “first priority”.
Patel had already angered the French government earlier this week when she said that the UK could withhold about 54 million pounds ($75 million) in funds that promised to help stop the flow of immigrants.
Dammanen said that Britain must abide by maritime laws and its commitments to France, including financial payments for French maritime border patrols.
The French minister wrote on Twitter:
France will not accept any violation of maritime law, nor will it accept financial extortion.
In a letter leaked to the British media, Dammanen stated that forcing the ship to return to the French coast would be dangerous, and “protecting human life at sea takes precedence over consideration of nationality, status and immigration policy.”
The British Home Office or the Home Office said: “We usually do not comment on offshore operations.”
Political
Charities say these plans may be illegal, and some British politicians say this idea will not work.
Channel Rescue, a citizen patrol looking for immigrants arriving along the British coast, said that international maritime law stipulates that ships have a clear duty to help people in distress.
Clare Mosely, the founder of Care4Calais, a charity that helps immigrants, said the plan would put immigrants’ lives at risk. “They don’t want to be deported. They can definitely try diving,” she said.
The ruling Conservative Party MP Tim Lawton said that this strategy would never be used because people would “inevitably” drown.
He said:
In any case, any high-speed ships will capsize most of these ships, and then we see people having trouble in the water and drowning.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government is exploring a range of safe and legal options to stop ships.
After the British and French governments cracked down on other forms of illegal entry (such as hiding behind trucks passing through French ports), the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats has increased this year.
Compared with the influx of immigrants into countries such as Lebanon and Turkey that host millions of refugees, the number of people trying to reach Britain in small boats—about 13,000 so far in 2021—is insignificant.
But this issue has become the call of Johnson’s Conservative Party politicians. Immigration is the core issue of the 2016 Brexit referendum decision.
France and the United Kingdom agreed in July to deploy more police and invest in detection technology to block crossings across the strait. French police confiscated more boats, but they said they could not completely prevent the departure.
British Junior Health Minister Helen Whately said that the government’s focus is still to stop migrants from trying to travel, not to keep them out.
The British opposition Labour Party criticized this new approach for putting lives at risk and said it should give priority to cracking down on population smuggling gangs.
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