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It is a terrible situation


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Ok it is an article in the Sun but the situation is real.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7066003/france-fishing-port-ouistreham-normandy-migrants-enter-uk/

I guess if you lived in Ouistreham you would probably want to move. It is only going to get worse.

I feel sorry for the migrants but also the French living under seige in their own towns.

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Idun wrote : No surprise and the gendarmes could do something about it, they simply do not.

What would you have the gendarmes do ? Lock them up ?

These young immigrants desperately want to go to the UK .. which they visualise as some kind of Utopia .. providing the prospect of work and safety.

They have been offered sanctuary in France .. but as they mostly speak English, as the most commonly spoken language in the Sudan is English, it is perhaps understandable that they want to be somewhere where they can understand the language and be understood, so they say 'no' to France.

Having said all that I then look at this from the other side of the argument and I see young men with mobile phones, smart shorts and trainers. Then I think .. who's conning who here?

I don't have the answer, but I do have a lot of questions.

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I may be entirely wrong Sue, but I was under the impression that the vast majority had not been offered sanctuary in France. The vast majority are sans papiers and want to stay so because being offered sanctuary in France means they have no right to enter the UK and certainly no rights to claim asylum there.

So what the French could do, but don't, is a control of papers. Offer those who meet the requirements, French asylum (which frankly is why they don't do it) and deport those who don't - but without papers, deport to where? (Another reason to not get involved)
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Viewing this from a UK perspective, and not having read the article ( on mobile phone..I might not live until it downloads) I'm guessing that the events of last week in Westminster may have further eroded any sympathies for the plight of, in particular, Sudanese refugees. The perpetrator of last week's attack had been granted asylum and ultimately citizenship just six weeks before ploughing into cyclists and police outside parliament.

In general, I've always felt sympathy for the plight of genuine refugees. I do wonder, though, why these people continue to be so very precisely selective about their destination. It seems their absolute belief that they should go to England be allowed to do so is so entrenched that they'd prefer to continue to suffer all sorts of hardship and discomfort to get there. Their "want" ( because, realistically it's not a "need") seems to defy all logic and common sense.
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[quote user="You can call me Betty"]  .................  I do wonder, though, why these people continue to be so very precisely selective about their destination. It seems their absolute belief that they should go to England be allowed to do so is so entrenched that they'd prefer to continue to suffer all sorts of hardship and discomfort to get there. .....................  [/quote]

The few that actually make it as far as the Channel ports think that Britain is the promised land.

The seed of that belief was planted and nurtured long ago by the British, and still grows.

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Regarding specifically the young men .. and they are young 16, 18 or so .. around Ouistreham I thought these reports were clear :

https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/normandie/calvados/ouistreham-ce-que-nous-savons-propos-migrants-1414533.html

https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2018/01/17/a-ouistreham-un-migrant-nous-raconte-pourquoi-il-reve-dangleterre_a_23335927/

Non-specifically there have been a fair number of young people .. again mainly young men .. who have opted for the offered helping-hand to remain in Brittany. But those youngsters do not have English as a language so are happy to settle here.

Perhaps because Bretons were sailors and voyagers helps explain why they are so ready to welcome migrants.

For the English-speaking Sudanese it is a dream to go to the UK .. it seems some/many already have family there.
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This is a response to some of the latest posts on here.  I heard a young male migrant speaking about his aim to get to "England".

He speaks English, he has family in the UK and his family, he claims, tell him that life is wonderful in the UK.  The English will help him with everything, housing, a job and, most importantly that "black men and white men, they are all treated the same; there is no difference" .....I paraphrase.  He finished by saying that he will have a good future in England.  My jaw dropped but he was speaking from absolute conviction and determination to reach the Promised Land.

There have been a mere handful (I think, 17%) who have sought asylum in France.  Most are determined to go to "England"...poor blighters, they know so much about England, don' they?

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I don't think France thinks there is any urgency to deal with the migrants gathered near the Channel ports.

After Brexit there will no longer be any UK Border Force stationed in France, to remove people hidden in lorries and leave them in France; they will already be on UK soil and I'm pretty certain France will not take them back.

I think the eventual solution will be something like what Australia does, with a little more consideration and humanity. Agree with France to set up and finance camps, preferably on a suitable island, with little possibility of leaving unofficially, and process the people as required by international law.

Those deemed not to be refugees could be sent back where they came from, those without papers would have the option of either admitting their origin or staying in the camp.

Word would surely get back eventually to counter the stories of people successfully reaching the UK.

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When I said I didn't understand why, I think I was taken a bit literally. The "promised land" bit and the speaking English bit I get. It's the idea that wanting something confers an automatic right to have it that I find difficult to fathom. Fleeing danger, war, famine, persecution...who wouldn't agree that people in such situations have been through suffering. I find it very difficult, though, to understand why some would willingly prolong part of that suffering and live in awful, inhumane and harsh circumstances because they want, rather than need, to get to England.

If you were forced out of your home, would you opt to live in a tent beside a motorway rather than accept help, simply because you wanted to live in a particular place or type of house? I've worked with refugees, I have the utmost respect for them, but on this aspect I'm conflicted. Not least because, as time has passed, I'm sure word has filtered back to those who only started their journey more recently that things are not as simple as they might think. I doubt that even the darkest corners of the world have a news vacuum.
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I agree Betty .. no way would I kip alongside a dual-carriageway hoping to jump on a passing lorry .. but their's is obviously a different mindset.

Whilst we're on this subject all is not well in N Africa either ..

sorry it's the Daily Wail :

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6089661/300-migrants-storm-border-Spanish-enclave-Ceuta-North-Africa-throw-acid-police.html
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[quote user="mint"] ........ I heard a young male migrant speaking about his aim to get to "England".

He speaks English, he has family in the UK and his family, he claims, tell him that life is wonderful in the UK.  The English will help him with everything, housing, a job and, most importantly that "black men and white men, they are all treated the same; there is no difference"
.................................................

[/quote]

The first person I heard talk like that was an aboriginal youth from a mission in Western Australia.

He told me all the good things he knew about God, and how he was looking forward to leaving the mission and working in a town or city once he finished his schooling.

He knew everyone would be nice to him and that everything he had heard was true; the missionaries had told him.

Over the years I heard similar beliefs of how good life is in Europe, and particularly in England, from poor people in many countries where I worked.

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[quote user="suein56"]I agree Betty .. no way would I kip alongside a dual-carriageway hoping to jump on a passing lorry .. but their's is obviously a different mindset.

Whilst we're on this subject all is not well in N Africa either ..

sorry it's the Daily Wail :

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6089661/300-migrants-storm-border-Spanish-enclave-Ceuta-North-Africa-throw-acid-police.html[/quote]

Maybe Spain would like to join with France and the UK in establishing a migrant camp on one of their islands..

The island of Cabrera, just off Mallorca, would be handy. It is owned by the military, practically uninhabited, and has already been used a couple of times for detaining people.

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Sue wrote
"no way would I kip alongside a dual-carriageway hoping to jump on a passing lorry .."
But they're not exactly coming from luxurious living standards back home.
As for France's help, a coachload of young male immigrants was brought to Auch (Gers) a couple of years back. Accommodation etc had been prepared for them. The refused to get off the coach, were taken back to Calais.
It's ironic that many in the UK who voted leave did so mainly because they thought that would stop the immigrants coming. It might well result in the opposite.

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[quote user="ebaynut"]There already exists a large area of land to house these 'migrants', its called Africa !!!!!!![/quote]

That's a splendid, simplistic idea, apart from the expense of housing them while establishing where they came from and getting them all back there.

Also, the UK no longer controls any of Africa; France and Spain consider the little bits they have as part of their main countries, so anyone put there would still be in Europe, and none of the African countries will accept migrants back who don't have "papers".

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Patf wrote :

But they're not exactly coming from luxurious living standards back home.

Pat I was agreeing with Betty in that I would not sleep by a dual-carriageway, hoping to get to England, if someone had offered me a home here in France.

Probably badly phrased on my part.
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