Migrant Flows Across the English Channel/La Manche to Brexit Britain: A Franco-British Matter?
The United Kingdom’s decision to depart the European Union was partly driven by a desire to “regain” control over its borders (shores) and thereby control the flow of new migrants into the country. But even as we await progress on the Nationality and Borders Bill 2021, the numbers of migrants departing the beaches of northern France and arriving on Britain’s shores continue to rise. On 15 November 2021, British Home Secretary Priti Patel and French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin conferred online and agreed to “strengthen operational cooperation further” and stop “100 per cent” of crossings of the English Channel by migrants in small boats. By this time, 23,500 migrants had already crossed to the UK during 2021, including 853 on 3 November and 1, 185 (the largest number recorded thus far in a single day) on 11 November. In comparison, only 8,417 made the crossing in 2020.
Earlier this year, the UK government granted £54 million to the French to fund maritime border patrols, seeing a porous and under-policed French coastline as the main problem. The UK government also believes that migrants in France should seek and receive asylum on French soil rather than seek a new abode across the English Channel. But despite widespread beliefs to the contrary, France is not obliged to provide asylum to new arrivals within its borders nor to prevent them trying to leave the country. France is also probably less inclined to be helpful to the British at a time of growing conflict over fishing rights and an impending trade war, and has repeatedly stated that it will not accept migrant boats turned back by the British from UK or international waters. The New Pact on Migration and Asylum, adopted by the European Commission on 23 September 2020 to replace the Dublin III Convention of 2013, lays down the criteria for establishing the EU27 Member State that is responsible for processing asylum applications and does not oblige any Member State to provide asylum on the basis of first entry to that country.
This brings us to the question of what makes UK so attractive to potential migrants that they choose to negotiate busy shipping lanes to cross the English Channel, often at night and undeterred by bad weather, risking their lives as they sail in canoes, dinghies, kayaks and other improvised boats of doubtful seaworthiness. These journeys are often made possible by sophisticated and well-resourced criminal gangs and networks, who charge large amounts of money to smuggle people. These people are the drivers of the modern slave trade and frequently also traffic drugs, sometimes using legitimate businesses as fronts for their illegal activities. This flow of migrants is further enabled by well-documented staff shortages in the UK Border Force.
People who make illegal crossings of the English Channel are said to be more likely to have family or friends in the UK, or may be tempted by the presence of settled communities of their kinsfolk in the country. The universality of the English language means that many may be more proficient in the language than in French or other European languages. On arrival, some may thus choose to bypass the asylum process and flock to settler communities, only to get absorbed by a shadow informal economy of low-paid and exploitative jobs that hides them away from the attention of the authorities.
Potential asylum seekers do not require a visa, but are expected to claim asylum immediately on arrival, or shortly thereafter by telephoning to make an appointment for an asylum screening interview at the Home Office’s Screening Unit in Croydon. The applicant receives an ARC (application registration card) and then awaits an asylum substantive interview, which may take up to a year or even longer to materialise. Asylum claimants are not allowed to work “in almost all cases”. Those with nowhere to stay may be offered basic “no-choice” housing, with no security of tenure, and those lacking finances receive cash support (£39.63 for each household member) for purchasing basic necessities such as food, clothing, and toiletries.
An asylum claim may be considered inadmissible for various reasons and at various stages of the process. Those coming from France may be considered as having travelled through a safe third country on the way to the UK, and can accordingly be held in prison-like detention centres, more formally known as Immigration Removal Centres after their true purpose. Unfortunately, the asylum system has struggled to keep with current demand. In 2020, there were around six asylum applications for every 10,000 people living in the UK, compared with 11 for every 10,000 in the EU27. As of June 2021, the pending asylum caseload of 125,000 included 57,000 applicants awaiting an initial decision.
It may seem preferable to prevent potential asylum seekers from leaving for elsewhere by restoring political stability and improving economic conditions within their home countries. But there is a big problem. Many countries have been beset in recent years by civil wars, authoritarian rule, and economic collapse and their woes have been further exacerbated by Covid-19. In 2020, 29 per cent of asylum seekers in the UK came from the Middle East, 28 per cent from Africa, 23 per cent from Asia, and 13 per cent from countries in Europe.
Trafficked people are the victims of circumstances beyond their control and subject to the predations of unscrupulous traffickers, some of whom are actually based in the UK. Migrants are always in the public eye, while their traffickers stay out of the limelight.
What can be done to tackle migrant flows to Britain? Aerial surveillance using drones and aircraft, deployment of Border Force catamarans and Royal Naval patrol boats, and other active surveillance measures all have their limitations and may do little to deter desperate people willing to risk their lives to come to Britain illegally. Identifying and sanctioning criminal gangs of people traffickers, through enhanced Franco-British collaboration, and tackling the root causes through longer-term global initiatives to restore political stability in some of the more distressed countries on the planet are required. None of these potential solutions can be considered a quick fix and migrants are likely to continue to arrive on British shores in the coming weeks and months, if not longer.
Ashis Banerjee