Macron could solve the Channel crossings crisis in one fell swoop – but he won’t

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This report has been co-published with our affiliated organisation, Brexit Facts4EU.Org. We are most grateful for their original research into the raw data which backs what follows.

85,000 sent to UK from France since records began just five years ago – and rising exponentially

As 2022 numbers top 45,000, Facts4EU asks Macron “Why won’t you simply take them back?”

As the Government lauds its new ‘achievement’ in persuading the French to allow some UK Border Force officers to observe gendarmes on French beaches, CIBUK.Org presents a simple solution which would cut illegal boat migrant numbers to the bone at a stroke.

Firstly, though, we summarise the numbers.

1. The problem of Macron’s 85,000 boat migrants

Summary

85,000 illegal migrants crossing the Channel from Macron’s France, 2018-2022

2018 : 299
2019 : 1,843
2020 : 8,466
2021 : 28,526
2022 : 45,573

[Source: UK Home Office and Ministry of Defence official data, accessed on 02 Jan 2023.]

The number in 2022 was 152 times the number in 2018.

2. UK Border Force could take the migrants back to France, if the French let them

Imagine the scene…

A UK Border Force vessel intercepts a large inflatable boat in the English Channel, carrying 85 illegal migrants. It takes the (mostly) young men on board and sets course for the nearest French beach with a floating pontoon.

The migrants are then disembarked safely onto the jetty and are met by French gendarmes. The UK Border Force Captain gives a cheery wave to the Captaine of the Gendarmerie and with a friendly “A bientot, mes amis!” (‘See you soon, my friends’) he reverses his vessel and heads back to British waters.

Credit: From Twitter

The illegal migrants will have paid thousands of euros to the people smugglers, only to find themselves back on French soil.

Imagine a second scene…

A French vessel from La Direction Centrale de la Police Aux Frontières (French border force) detects a large inflatable full of (mostly) young men who have set off from a French beach in the direction of England.

It takes them on board and heads back to the same floating pontoon used by the UK Border Force just a couple of hours earlier. There the illegal migrants are disembarked and dealt with by the waiting gendarmes.

Once again, the migrants will have paid thousands of euros to people smugglers, only to find themselves back in France.

The illegal migrant Channel crossings crisis – solved in one fell swoop

Within two weeks of implementing this new policy, the word would spread like wildfire in the migrant encampments in northern France and almost all Channel crossings would cease.

President Macron would then declare this a ‘triomphe’ – a French humanitarian action he had taken in order to prevent the loss of lives at sea.

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For the original report, click here : https://facts4eu.org/news/2023_jan_macrons_migrants