The rift between Ben and Jerry’s and the British government is heating up after the ice maker in a tweet implied that parliament is showing a “lack of humanity” for asylum seekers.
Tensions were rising between the Vermont-based company and the government on Tuesday when Ben and Jerry’s tweeted Foreign Secretary Priti Patel promising to stop a record number of asylum seekers bordering England across the English Channel.
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‘Hee @PritiPatel we think the real crisis is our lack of humanity for people fleeing war, climate change and torture, “the company said in a tweet.
More than 650 migrants have made the dangerous crossing and have reached Britain so far in August; 235 made the 20-mile trip in a single day last week.
“People would not make dangerous trips if they had another choice,” Ben and Jerry’s said. “The United Kingdom has not resettled refugees since March, but wars and violence have continued. What we need are safer and more legal routes.”
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Earlier this week, Patel – a hardliner on immigration in the government of Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson – tweeted that the route is “incredibly dangerous.” She said she was working “uneasily” to address the “unacceptable number of illegal small boat crossings” and to make the route “unreliable.”
She said the government is working both to stop boats leaving France, as well as to distinguish and return those that make the crossings.
Subsequent British governments have struggled for decades with illegal immigration across the canal, both from migrants on boats and those smuggled through ports of entry into trucks and other cars.
Immigration activists have said that many migrants have legitimate reasons to go to the country and the government should offer legal routes to get there safely.
Social media users and other MPs were quick to lambast the company, a long-time champion of liberal causes.
MP Martin Daubney tweeted that sources from the Home Office, which oversees immigration, security and law and order in the UK, said these boat crossings “are facilitated by international criminal ties.”
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“If that means destroying the social media team for a brand of cheap junk food, then so be it,” Daubney tweeted.
MP James Cleverly also expressed anger over the company’s comments on social media.
“Can I have a big spoonful of statistically inaccurate virtue signaling with my size too much ice please,” tweeted back.
Ben and Jerry’s was founded in Burlington, Vt., In 1978 by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. Since then, the company, now owned by Unilever PLC, has been champions of liberal causes, including the Black Lives Matter movement and the 2016 “Democracy Awakening” protests.
Ben & Jerry’s did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
FOX News’ Adam Shaw and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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