Boris Johnson’s government is finally considering turning back the illegal migrant-laden boats which have been launching from France in record numbers.
Home Secretary Priti Patel MP has reportedly signed off on allowing Britain’s Border Force — which up until now has been collecting boat migrants at sea and bringing them the rest of the way to Britain, not escorting them back to France — to finally begin doing so-called “turnarounds” following training by the Royal Marines.
Sources have indicated to The Telegraph that this will only be done in “very limited circumstances”, however, for example when the migrant boats are considered to be especially seaworthy and turning them back safe.
As most migrant boats are flimsy dinghies and their passengers can become aggressive when facing resistance from the authorities, even threatening to throw children into the water on some occasions, it is questionable whether turnarounds will be deemed possible in all but a very few cases — possibly zero — by a Border Force which is not particularly gung ho about controlling Britain’s borders.
France, meanwhile, is already signalling that it does not want to let Britain turn back any of the illegal migrants launching from their shores at all.
EXCLUSIVE
I have seen a leaked letter from the French Government to Priti Patel that says Non to all new UK proposals on Channel Crossings.
Mr Darmanin also says the migrant situation could even get worse…
The boats will continue and nothing will change. @GBNEWS
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) September 8, 2021
Britain’s Home Office has been characteristically vague and unhelpful in describing the meetings which have been taking place with the French, with a readout quoted by the Financial Times stating simply: “The Home Secretary made clear that delivering results and stopping crossings were an absolute priority for the British people, and that tackling the scourge of illegal migration and organised criminal networks is a joint challenge that neither country can tackle alone.”
A letter from French interior minister Gérald Darmanin to Priti Patel seen by the establishment newspaper paints a rather starker picture of the situation, however, with the Frenchman rejecting calls for a joint command to tackle illegal migrant-smuggling, rejecting a Franco-British deal on deportations, and warning elsewhere that “The use of maritime refoulements [turnarounds] to French territorial waters would risk having a negative impact on our co-operation” — not that such co-operation as currently exists has prevented the crisis from getting increasingly worse, of course.
The MP for Calais, meanwhile, has told the BBC that “nothing” can stop the migrants, despite the tens of millions which have been given to France by Britain for “more and more patrols” to stop the boats in French territorial waters.
France Wants Migration Deal – So They Can Send More Asylum Seekers to Britain https://t.co/kaVPASUpV8
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 27, 2021
“The Home Secretary is right to instruct the Border Force to intercept and turn back dinghies with migrants in the Channel,” commented Migration Watch UK chairman Alp Mehmet — although to reiterate, it is not yet certain this will actually happen — in a statement seen by Breitbart London supporting turnarounds.
“Stopping the boats is the only way to break the business model of the people-smugglers and deter the rising number of needless and deadly crossings,” he added.
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