Migrants in French water ‘shouldn’t have been picked up’
BRITISH boats should not enter French waters to pick up Channel migrants, says a union chief.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, wants an inquiry into last Saturday when a Border Force vessel brought a boatload to Dover from French waters.
The small boat was zigzagging between UK and French waters. It was not, however, in trouble when the cutter Valiant radioed French authorities requesting permission to intervene.
Lucy Moreton, from the Immigration Services Union, said the British crew should have only acted if there was a danger to life, yesterday.
“Where there is a threat to life at sea, the French vessels simply keep eye contact with the migrant vessel into British waters and we then pick it up,” she said.
“What’s being reported appears to be that someone had just anticipated that, but had they waited a little bit longer, the migrant vessel would have crossed that line and they would have picked them up anyway.”
Tory MPs have criticised the French for shepherding migrants boats into British waters to maintain safety at sea, but the tacit acceptance by Border Force of similar tactics will be an embarrassment for the Home Secretary.
Ms Moreton said: “I’m told by members involved in this that it is common when the migrant boats are approached by the French that they threaten to jump overboard or throw somebody overboard if the French vessel comes close and the French vessel stands off because life at sea is paramount.
“That leads to this unattractive appearance that the French are escorting the migrant vessel to British waters. Once they see a British vessel, they’re happy to be taken onboard because they know they’re as good as here.”
A recording of a maritime radio conversation captured Valiant’s officers discussing the “legality” of the operation. Valiant then entered the French side of the Channel and launched a fast inflatable to collect the dinghy migrants.
The move will intensify pressure on the Home Office in a week when record numbers of migrants have crossed the Channel. The day before the incident was the busiest of the year, with 336 migrants sailing to the UK from France.
Last night Priti Patel told social media companies, including Facebook and Twitter, to remove posts that “glamorise” illegal migrant channel crossings.
The letter, seen by the Mail on Sunday, told the tech giants to “put an end to the exploitation of your platforms by criminals involved in organised immigration crime”.