Displaying items by tag: Migrant crisis

Three people, possibly including children, have died attempting to cross the English Channel near Calais, French authorities confirmed. The victims, believed to be from Egypt and South East Asia, were among more than seventy people crammed onto an overloaded boat. Officials said they were likely crushed to the bottom of the vessel. While 44 passengers were rescued, three later died in hospital. On the same night, another 115 people were rescued from a separate boat -  one of the largest groups recorded - while three remain missing from a different vessel. This year alone, over twenty migrants have died making the perilous crossing; 2024 was the deadliest year on record, with at least 82 deaths. More than 30,000 people have already reached the UK in small boats this year. The tragedy has renewed scrutiny of people-smuggling gangs and the UK’s asylum system. New home secretary Shabana Mahmood has vowed to prioritise border security and tackle traffickers driving the crisis.

Labour has admitted that Britain is facing a small-boat crisis in the Channel, just days after scrapping the Tories' Rwanda deportation scheme. 427 people made the crossing on Monday, bringing the total since Labour took power to 1,185. Home secretary Yvette Cooper noted that small-boat crossings were at a record high and indicated a challenging summer ahead. The Conservatives argue that Labour's approach relies too heavily on European cooperation and lacks effective deterrents. Instead, Starmer plans to establish a 1,000-strong immigration task force as part of a new Border Security Command, to address people-smuggling. Migration will be a key topic at the upcoming European Political Community summit, where Starmer aims to build support for his new strategy. Critics warn that Labour's policies could lead to increased illegal arrivals and costs for taxpayers.

Britain. Europe, the US, and other wealthy countries have a refugee problem. In the past week Mexican officials found over 340 migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Ecuador in an abandoned truck trailer in the state of Veracruz. This included 103 unaccompanied minors. It is one of the biggest recent discoveries of migrant children travelling through Mexico. All appeared unharmed and the trailer had fans and ventilation ports. The driver's whereabouts are unknown. Fleeing Central America’s poverty and violence many migrants end up paying huge sums of cash to people-smugglers to get them across the US border. See A large operation off Italy's coast rescued 1,300 migrants in overcrowded boats near the southern region of Calabria, and two weeks ago73 migrants died in the same region. See UN figures state 103 million people were forcibly displaced around the world in mid-2022. Thirty-seven million were refugees or asylum seekers.

The closure of the ‘Jungle’ failed to remove migrants from Calais. Since January 17,000+ have attempted to board UK-bound trucks and trains. Migrants haven't gone, they have moved into the woods where they live like animals. There are not as many as a year ago, but there are more than the French government would wish. The French interior minister said there were ‘about 350 ‘. He is wrong. It is clear from spending four days there that the number is much closer to the estimate by volunteers, who say 1,000 are playing a constant game of cat-and-mouse with the police. A recent Human Rights Watch report said that riot police are using brutal methods to disperse new arrivals. Regular attempts are made to remove migrants to processing centres. Some go and some hide. Many who go will return later.