[Politics] Small boats, smashing the criminal gangs and the UK job market

[portlock seagull]

You catch them mid channel and ship them off to detention centres

Without any due process? Who is going to catch them?
Internation Maritime Law prevents it by force.

Before Brexit, we could return them to France, but people believed the Brexit lies of being able to control our borders. You get what you voted for.

Because the previous governments closed all the official routes to claim asylum, there is no other way than to set foot on British soil.
That's why the present government is supposedly trying to open processing places abroad.

To be fair you don't need to put yourself in their position. Speaking to people who have made these journeys and suffered at the hands of the make it awful as a deterrent brigade is enough to understand.

4 Star hotel charade shows that Chicken Run hasn't got the first clue what he is talking about. But talk he does and talk he will, without a thought of actually finding out what he's on about.

No axe to grind with you CR, but as others have written, you are a little misguided. It's very complicated, perhaps unnecessarily so, but if it was easy, it would been resolved. Ironically we're all wanting the same thing actually, including the migrants.

 

[A1X]

More unattractive than the country’s they left ? War, famine dictatorships and being dirt poor ?

Not sure your solution would stop them TBH.

I don't know, look at Trump. He's well on his way to making the US a much less appealing country to foreigners and if he keeps crashing the economy every five minutes soon most economic migrants will fancy taking their chances in the more stable Mexico.

Given we know Farage has been linked with Liz Truss, perhaps it's also his plan for here? Reform will screw the UK over so much that not only will people not want to come here but maybe many of us will start to leave?

 

[BadFish]

Ah, you mean detention camps? Yes, Britain invented those. Concentration camps where people are concentrated until they are processed. Got ya.

Yeah we have them over here. I had a friend who went and did some counselling work at the one in Manus Island.

I have never seen someone so affected by an experience; it was awful. I wouldn't wish his experience on my worst enemy, let alone the people who were housed there.

 

[portlock seagull]

Ah, you mean detention camps? Yes, Britain invented those. Concentration camps where people are concentrated until they are processed. Got ya.

Grim semantics I know, but our 'version' of these were a world away from the immediate association most of us have (unless you're a history nerd like us). And certainly not to be confused or lumped in with the death factories and extermination camps such as Treblinka.

 

[Chicken Run]

Ah, you mean detention camps? Yes, Britain invented those. Concentration camps where people are concentrated until they are processed. Got ya.

Difference being these won’t be mandatory If you don’t like the conditions don’t cross the channel in a small boat

 

[Chicken Run]

No axe to grind with you CR, but as others have written, you are a little misguided. It's very complicated, perhaps unnecessarily so, but if it was easy, it would been resolved. Ironically we're all wanting the same thing actually, including the migrants.

 

[Deportivo Seagull]

Let me go on record and say that i’m delighted this government appear to be deporting 1’000s since taking office and long may it continue, however nearly 2000 have arrived in the last two weeks to replace them, i’m sorry i’m not sure what your point is?

The point is that under the tories they basically stopped deporting people. The irony is that labour ‘soft on immigrants’ is actually deporting people. The reason the channel is now the preferred route into the uk is because security is so much tighter on freight on ferries and the train. I looked at this a while ago and the numbers are more or less the same as the last ten years. It’s not worse with labour or Sunak, it’s just an opportune route for people smugglers. One ex met copper said he believed that as the punishment is less for people smuggling than class A drugs it’s more appealing to your smuggling crim.

 

[BadFish]

The point is that under the tories they basically stopped deporting people. The irony is that labour ‘soft on immigrants’ is actually deporting people. The reason the channel is now the preferred route into the uk is because security is so much tighter on freight on ferries and the train. I looked at this a while ago and the numbers are more or less the same as the last ten years. It’s not worse with labour or Sunak, it’s just an opportune route for people smugglers. One ex met copper said he believed that as the punishment is less for people smuggling than class A drugs it’s more appealing to your smuggling crim.

The Tories also blocked the 'legal'* routes for people to claim asylum.

*it's not illegal to claim asylum

 

[Chicken Run]

The point is that under the tories they basically stopped deporting people. The irony is that labour ‘soft on immigrants’ is actually deporting people. The reason the channel is now the preferred route into the uk is because security is so much tighter on freight on ferries and the train. I looked at this a while ago and the numbers are more or less the same as the last ten years. It’s not worse with labour or Sunak, it’s just an opportune route for people smugglers. One ex met copper said he believed that as the punishment is less for people smuggling than class A drugs it’s more appealing to your smuggling crim.

Noted, but people getting excited by 16000 deportations by Labour are failing to mention 23,000 new immigrants have arrived under the Labour stewardship and the numbers are rising, and let’s be frank the timeline from arrival to deportation is what 2/3 years,?

 

[stoo82!]

But you have to claim asylum in the first safe country you arrive at. If you keep going, you become an economic migrate, and then entering a further country this becomea illegal.

 

[Chicken Run]

But you have to claim asylum in the first safe country you arrive at. If you keep going, you become an economic migrate, and then entering a further country this becomea illegal.

Its not illegal to claim asylum, however it is illegal to land in the UK in an unauthorised crossing

 

[portlock seagull]

Noted, but people getting excited by 16000 deportations by Labour are failing to mention 23,000 new immigrants have arrived and the numbers are rising, and let’s be frank the timeline from arrival to deportation is what 2/3 years,?

Yep. But don't think anyone's denying the system and situation is a complete mess. Politicians eh?!

 

[beorhthelm]

...
My brother works in immigration services specifically dealing with under-age unaccompanied asylum seekers who arrive with no documentation. They are housed in hostels them most of them abscond. Most of them are probably older than they claim. ...

begs the question, why would they abscond or lie when they want asylum?

 

[birthofanorange]

But you have to claim asylum in the first safe country you arrive at. If you keep going, you become an economic migrate, and then entering a further country this becomea illegal.

Total nonsense that's been disproven countless times.

 

[BadFish]

But you have to claim asylum in the first safe country you arrive at. If you keep going, you become an economic migrate, and then entering a further country this becomea illegal.

The further you go, the better quality hotel you get to stay at, that's why the UK has to use 4-star ones.

You should see the places they have to stay if they only go to the next country.

If they get to Iceland, though, woah, 5 Star all the way.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

begs the question, why would they abscond or lie when they want asylum?

They claim asylum after they are caught illegally entering the country.
The absconders want to work in the black economy, which they think is lucrative,
Till they find themselves indentured.
I'm not suggesting they have a right to be here.
Just that under years of tory rule nothing much has been done to deal with them

Not sure why nodding-dog @Chicken Run is applauding you.
The man with all the answers

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Difference being these won’t be mandatory If you don’t like the conditions don’t cross the channel in a small boat

Where do the Afghans that we employed in Kabul go? We promised we would look after them after they served us, to protect them from the Taliban. We withdrew so suddenly (our honourable politician was on the beach) and left the majority of them behind, so they fled for their lives.
A lot of them have made it here, because, quite frankly, we owe them.

 

[Chicken Run]

Where do the Afghans that we employed in Kabul go? We promised we would look after them after they served us, to protect them from the Taliban. We withdrew so suddenly (our honourable politician was on the beach) and left the majority of them behind, so they fled for their lives.
A lot of them have made it here, because, quite frankly, we owe them.

If they arrive with passports and supporting documentation no problem

Here’s the numbers for you

During Operation Herrick (2003-2014), the British government employed approximately 7,000 local Afghans. Of those, 2,850 worked as interpreters and translators on the frontline, primarily in Helmand province. Additionally, 3,857 Afghan citizens were employed as Locally Employed Civilians (LECs) between 2001 and 2014.

In the UK, for the year 2025, small boat crossings have been on the rise. As of April 28, 2025, over 10,000 people had crossed the English Channel in small boats. This represents an increase of about 40% compared to the same period in 2024. The top five nationalities arriving by small boat in 2024 were Afghans, Syrians, Iranians, Vietnamese, and Eritreans, accounting for 61% of all arrivals.

 

[A1X]

But you have to claim asylum in the first safe country you arrive at. If you keep going, you become an economic migrate, and then entering a further country this becomea illegal.

Genuine question, why do you believe this to be true even though it’s an urban myth debunked nearly as often as the “Bob Holness plays the saxophone on Baker Street” one?

 

[Chicken Run]

Genuine question, why do you believe this to be true even though it’s an urban myth debunked nearly as often as the “Bob Holness plays the saxophone on Baker Street” one?

Or the Soft Cell lead singer one?