Britain is ‘Eldorado’ for illegal migrants, slams Calais mayor

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Britain is an ‘Eldorado’ for illegal migrants and ‘lacks the courage’ to tighten its laws to deter Channel crossings, according to the Mayor of Calais. 

In a call for showdown talks over migration, Natacha Bouchart told French radio station RTL that Emmanuel Macron’s government must ‘strongarm’ Britain to ‘overhaul’ the treaty that obliges France to control migrants before they cross the Dover Strait.

Her intervention comes after one migrant was declared dead off Dunkirk yesterday, and another is missing presumed drowned – among more than 400 people rescued by French authorities throughout Tuesday night into Wednesday evening. 

Dunkirk’s public prosecutor, Sebastien Pive, has announced a manslaughter inquiry into the death, saying the boat was so overloaded it broke down and sank. 

Ms Bouchart, who is a member of the centre-Right Republicains, accused Britain’s ‘soft touch’ on migrants of inflicting ‘trauma’ on Calais residents ‘for over 20 years’ by essentially luring people to the French port town from all over the EU.

‘We know that a migrant who arrives in England is taken care of. They are housed, they have an income,’ the Mayor said. ‘For them, England remains an Eldorado but the British Government does not have the courage to review its legislation in the field.’

Under the Touquet Treaty first approved in February 2003, the UK border was effectively moved on to French soil. As a result, the French government has complained that this ultimately leaves them – not Britain – in charge of the border protection arrangements.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has paid Paris the first installment of the £54million to counter Channel migrants, after her French counterpart, Gerald Darmanin, promised to stop 100 per cent of the boats if the UK paid the full amount. However, fewer than half of the migrants have been intercepted by French authorities, The Times reported. And France has raised the prospect of ending checks on migrants unless Britain backs down in the ongoing post-Brexit dispute over fishing licences.

Either side can revoke the border agreement with just two years’ notice before it is cancelled. 

It is believed that the current surge in migrant crossings has been caused by good weather along the coast of southern England since Monday – despite the sudden drop in temperatures – which has seen calm Channel waters. In July and September, thousands of migrants took advantage of calm seas and clear skies to make the journey across the Dover Strait.

And yesterday, a cross-Channel Irish ferry, the Isle of Inishmore, was even forced to stop and rescue 13 migrants in a sinking dinghy and return them to Calais.   

The surge in crossings led the Conservative MP for Dover, Natalie Elphicke, to call for controversial ‘pushback’ tactics to begin immediately against migrant dinghies. She said the French had ‘entirely lost control of their border’, adding: ‘It says something when a ferry has more success taking migrants back to France than the French authorities. It’s time to take forward additional measures including turning boats around and swiftly returning those who come in illegally.’ 

Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, called on the Government to ramp up efforts to reach an agreement with the French government to prevent future tragedies.

In a post on Twitter, he said: ‘It’s a grim reality that over 20,000 people have risked their lives in the English Channel this year. There needs to be an effective deal with the French authorities and properly managed safe and legal routes. The Conservatives must listen and act-urgently.’ 

Mrs Elphicke said tragic deaths could be prevented with help from France.

‘Month after month lives are being lost in the English Channel. This is not just tragic, it is wholly avoidable if the French stepped up to the plate and stopped boats leaving in the first place,’ she said.

‘Traffickers will continue to ply their disgusting trade while they are able to do so. It is the responsibility of all civilised countries to put a stop to it.’

The migrant who was pronounced dead after being found unconscious while attempting the Channel crossing was a man aged in his 30s, according to French newspaper Voix du Nord.

Mr Pive said: ‘Investigations are underway, the circumstances of this tragedy are still unclear. An investigation for manslaughter has been opened and handed over to the border police.’ 

Ben Bano, from refugee charity Seeking Sanctuary, said: ‘These latest tragic deaths come on top of two recent deaths in the last four weeks.

‘They are completely avoidable. The UK and French governments can work together to provide safe and secure ways to seek asylum in the UK- instead those involved put their lives in even more danger in response to what they see as a hardening of attitudes from both governments.

‘And the refugees making the journey are by no means economic migrants – victims of the wars and persecution which affect so many parts of the world today.’

Bella Sankey, director of Detention Action which supports detained refugees, said: ‘It’s deeply saddening to hear that a person has died and one has gone missing this week while trying to reach the UK.

‘Our condolences go out to their families and friends, and anyone who was traveling with them.

‘Parliament is currently considering adding a new Humanitarian Visa to the Government’s Nationality & Borders Bill that would allow refugees currently waiting in France to apply for safe, efficient passage to the UK to make their claims. We urge this Government to accept the amendment.

‘No ‘hostile environment’ or threat of punishment can extinguish hope, but by providing people with a safe way to reach loved ones and rebuild their lives in our communities we can prevent more of these tragedies.’ 

Yesterday’s drowning was the second fatal incident in the past ten days, after at least one migrant was reported to have gone overboard by men rescued on a small boat off Harwich, Essex last Tuesday. It is believed to be the single biggest tragedy in the Channel, an international shipping lane, since a Kurdish-Iranian family of five lost their lives in October last year. 

The latest migrants to die on the perilous journey were among more than 400 people rescued by French authorities throughout Tuesday night into Wednesday evening.    

The Home Office has confirmed that not one of the more than 20,000 migrants who have crossed the Channel and reached Britain this year has been returned to the EU countries through which they passed, where they should have claimed asylum. 

Yesterday, a group of migrants who got into difficulty in the Channel told their rescuers a person had fallen into the sea off Pas-de-Calais. French Navy helicopter Dauphin carried out an extensive search with the help of the fire and rescue service. But this was called off after no one was found by the afternoon.

Another rescue operation saw an unconscious migrant recovered who was later pronounced dead upon arrival at a French port.

A spokesman for the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea said late on Wednesday night: ‘Unfortunately, despite the means implemented, one person is missing and one other was declared dead, among these very many castaways.

‘Indeed, during a rescue operation, the recovered castaways told rescuers that a person had fallen into the sea off the Pas-de-Calais. The CROSS then engages the Dauphin helicopter to carry out dedicated research. Actions are also coordinated with resources from the departmental fire and rescue service (SDIS).

‘At the end of the morning, after fruitless searches and lack of new information, the maritime prefect of the Channel and the North Sea decided to suspend the searches at sea. In addition, during another rescue operation, a castaway was recovered unconscious. 

‘Rescuers did their best, but this person was pronounced dead upon returning to the dock.’

The French Navy helicopter Dauphin and Belgian Army chopper Caiman helped rescue tug Abeille Languedoc, French Navy patrol vessel Cormorant, Customs patroller Jacques Oudart Fourmentin, Maritime Gendarmerie surveillance boat Scarpe in the multiple rescues.

Various lifeboat crews, assisted by local lighthouse beacons, also joined the emergency response.

It comes just over a week since two Somalian migrants rescued in an emergency 30 miles off Harwich last Tuesday claimed a third man had gone overboard and drowned.

It is the most fatal day of crossings in the Channel since Rasoul Iran-Nejad, 35, Shiva Mohammad Panahi, 35, Anita, nine, Armin, six, and 15-month-old Artin all died after the boat they were travelling in sank in October last year.

The Home Office is yet to confirm how many migrants arrived on UK shores on Wednesday. MailOnline has contacted the department for comment. 

Footage yesterday showed the moment a Channel ferry was forced to stop and rescue migrants in a sinking dinghy, as the number of illegal crossings this year breached 20,000. 

Photos taken from onboard the Isle of Ishinore show more than a dozen migrants on a packed boat being propelled through the world’s busiest shipping lane by a single man holding a flimsy paddle. 

The ferry stopped midway through a crossing from Dover to Calais after the craft was spotted drifting 10.45am, with the captain telling passengers: ‘Apologies for the delay but we had to stop and rescue 13 migrants in distress who’s boat had run out of fuel and was sinking’. 

The ship dispatched a rescue craft which threw a rope to the stricken boat so it could be pulled alongside. The crew hauled all 13 migrants to safety and found two of them were without life jackets. They were all taken to Calais. 

Other video emerged of migrants celebrating arriving in Britain by chanting ‘Yay, UK is good’ as they being ferried into Dover on an RNLI lifeboat. 

The video was taken as 456 more migrants arrived from France in 15 small craft, bringing the total number of people who have made the perilous journey so far this year to an astonishing 20,198. 

This is more than double the 8,410 who arrived in Britain last year, and the figure will soon increase after more migrants were seen arriving today.  

Numbers have risen dramatically despite Miss Patel vowing to make Channel crossings an ‘infrequent phenomenon’ by spring 2020.  Facing increasing pressure to ‘get a grip’ on the crisis, she recently agreed to hand a further £54million to Emmanuel Macron’s administration in France to step up patrols on their coast. 

‘Pushback’ tactics – to stop migrant boats and divert them back to France – have also been authorised by Miss Patel, but have yet to come into force. The French oppose these tactics, saying they breach maritime law.  

Yesterday, more migrants were seen arriving onboard the Morrell, an RNLI lifeboat based at Dungeness, Kent, which brought the first group in to Dover Marina shortly before 7am.

Two men wearing lifejackets were seen being walked up the gangway by Immigration Enforcement for processing while their small black dinghy was towed into harbour.

Approximately 40 more migrants were seen packed onto Border Force cutter Hunter before disembarking around 8am. The Morrell returned to the harbour again with around 30 people on board half an hour later. Border Force’s largest catamaran Hurricane was also been bringing dozens of migrants to shore.

It had to double park with a lifeboat and wait to disembark its rescued occupants, draped in red blankets for warmth, around 10.30am this morning.

Many of the men carried their possessions in clear plastic bags.  The RNLI’s Dungeness vessel was also said to be working through the night on search and rescue.

Onlookers monitoring activity in the Channel off the Kent coast predict could see higher numbers of arrivals than on Monday.  

October saw a total of 2,669 migrants make the Channel crossing in 92 boats.

Elsewhere, maritime gendarmerie coastal surveillance boat Escaut recovered 34 migrants while Customs Coast Guard patroller Jacques Oudart Fourmentinis saved 49 people in two operations. 

That is six times more than the 463 who arrived in 33 boats in the same month last year. 

Dan O’Mahoney, Clandestine Channel Threat Commander, said: ‘These journeys are illegal, dangerous, unnecessary and facilitated by violent criminal gangs profiting from misery.

‘We are working with the French to stop boats leaving their beaches and crack down on the criminals driving these crossings.

‘People should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. The Government’s New Plan for Immigration will fix the system, making it firm on those who abuse it and fair on those in genuine need.’