Britain has begun trying to repatriate illegal immigrants who tried to return to France and Germany via small boats across the English Channel – after British officials in France pressed mainly to do more to stop the flow in crossings.
The Times of London reports that a special charter flight took 14 migrants to the two countries after the UK government found that they had previously applied for asylum in one of two countries after checking their fingerprints against European Union databases .
UK, FRANCE INSIDE PLAN TO STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT BOATS ENGLISH CHANNEL
Although it is only a small fraction of the hundreds of migrants who have landed on the British coast in recent weeks from northern France, a government source told the Times it was “the tip of the iceberg.”
“It shows we are getting these people out,” a source told the Times. “It sends a message to the people who are trying to cross the channel and to the smugglers of people that we are getting people out of the country.”
The Times reports that applications have been made for a further 577 who arrived this year and had previously sought asylum before traveling to Britain, meaning they could be returned under Dublin’s EU regulations – which say asylum claims must be treated by the first safe EU country the migrants encountered.
The move comes a day after Immigration Minister Chris Philp said the UK and France had “our unshakeable shared commitment” to ensure the route across the canal was “unviable” after hundreds of migrants were towed to the British coast in recent weeks .
UK PLEDGES TO DOWN OF ‘APPALLING’ WAVE OF ILLEGAL CHANGE IMMIGRATION
A Border Force ship helps a group of people thought to be migrants aboard their inflatable dinghy in the Channel, Monday 10 August 2020. (Gareth Fuller / PA via AP)
“It is facilitated by fair criminal ties, it puts lives at risk and it is completely unnecessary,” he told Sky News after meeting with French officials in Paris.
“We have been working on a joint operational plan, a revised and new operational plan, with the aim of completely cutting this route and we will work at a rapid pace in the coming days to make that plan a reality,” he said.
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Philp said more than 1,000 migrants had been detained by the French government this year, but that the numbers still passing were “unacceptable” for both governments. He noted that the Dublin Regulation made it more difficult for the UK to repatriate migrants and that Britain would be free from that regulation in 2021 when it left the bloc completely.
