New video shows French boats aiding illegal migrants across the English Channel

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, as the old saying goes. 

The problem of illegal immigration, a hot political topic across the Western world, has reared its head in the UK just as the fears brought on by the coronavirus begin to subside slowly. 

Nigel Farage, a British broadcaster and the leader of the Brexit Party, released a video last week which exposed the criminal gangs that are exploiting the strained resources of the French and British governments to increase their human trafficking efforts across the Channel. 

The video shows overcrowded inflatable dinghies filled with illegal migrants trying to cross the English Channel from France to the U.K. Remarkably, Farage captured film of the French ships guiding the migrant boats through the French waters into the English waters and handing them over to the British to process. 

While illegal immigration across the Channel has been a problem since 2018, the numbers have spiked during the coronavirus pandemic. In April alone, at least 864 migrants successfully made their way across the Channel, compared to only 539 in all of 2018. 

According to numbers from the British government, the majority of these illegal migrants are from Iran. Passage across is not cheap – reports suggest these criminal gangs are charging £3,000 to £6,000 per person. 

While it was long assumed that the French authorities were doing their best to prevent these illegal migrants from reaching British waters, thanks in part to the millions of dollars given to France by the U.K. for expressly this purpose, Farage’s video, substantiated by reporting from Sky News, would suggest that the opposite is the case. 

When this issue first rose in 2018, then British Home Secretary Sajid Javid responded by upping patrol efforts saying that the illegal migrants “were not genuine asylum seekers” because they came from a safe country. 

The current Home Secretary, Priti Patel, said she is “furious” about the crisis and has vowed to put an end to it. Currently, the loophole being used by the migrants is that once they reach British waters, they claim to require rescuing (which is often the case due to overcrowding in small dinghies) and the British ships are obliged to aid them. Ms. Patel is looking to change the law so that British ships can intercept them and turn them around before they reach British waters. 

Ms. Patel also said that they are working with the French to resolve this issue. However, France has yet to take ownership of their actions publicly. Mr. Farage has claimed that perhaps Ms. Patel is “not being told the truth” by the French authorities on this issue.