migrants are still trying to cross the channel on makeshift boats

In the United Kingdom, the Rwanda bill received royal assent this week. This text is supposed to allow the court bans to be bypassed and the UK’s asylum application system to be moved to Rwanda by sending all people who have arrived in the UK illegally there. However, this is not enough to deter – for now – future asylum seekers from crossing the Channel. Reporting from Dover, in southeast England.

Posted on: 27.04.2024. – 08:09

2 min

With our special correspondent from Dover, Émeline Vin

In Dover, on the English coast, about fifty migrants disembarked from a British police boat, their clothes soaked, some with bare feet. All this under the watchful eye of Carol Heginbottom, Deputy Director of the Small Craft Command.

” Initial tests are carried out on board to ensure that those who are injured or ill are treated first. Then, here, we take them to the first tent, which is the medical tent, where they will all be examined by the paramedics. After that we start recording them », she explains.

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The migrants set off from the north of France in an inflatable boat ten meters long. Senior Officer Trevor Taylor is familiar with this type of vessel. ” At first glance it looks like a solid piece of equipment, but it really isn’t. This boat is not manufactured to industry standards, it literally comes from a garage, with materials unsuitable for a vessel », he deciphers.

Carol Heginbottom hopes so a new partnership with Rwanda will put an end to these transitions. ” I cannot comment on the political aspect. But I really hope it will have an impact, if it slips. Our priority is to prevent any loss of life and prevent organized crime groups from making huge profits by risking lives »

Still aimed at deterrence, the government is also funding social media campaigns in countries of origin, particularly Vietnam.