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Scottish Sun
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Scottish Sun
Speaking French, Swedish, German… the migrants booted out of EU in asylum crackdown & on small boats to ‘soft touch' UK
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) MORE than 2,000 migrants are massing in the Jungle camp outside Dunkirk in northern France. And their aim — to cross the Channel and take advantage of 'soft touch' Britain after they were turfed out by the EU countries where they previously lived. 4 Migrants climb walls and cut fences near Dunkirk's Jungle camp Credit: Chris Eades - Commissioned by The Sun 4 While the number of asylum claims across Europe is falling, the figure for the UK is going up 4 Jungle camp residents form a queue behind an aid truck Credit: Chris Eades Shocking new figures have revealed that while the number of asylum claims across Europe is falling, the figure for the UK is going up. And as small boat crossings to Britain are increasing daily, the level of 'irregular' crossings into the EU countries from Africa, the Balkans and Eastern Europe have significantly reduced. When The Sun visited the overcrowded Dunkirk camp, we were shocked to find that although it was packed full of Eritreans, Afghans and Somalis, we heard fluent conversations in German, Swedish, Belgian and Danish. And that is because a huge majority of the migrants waiting to come here have lived in those European countries for years. Somali mum-of-two Huda Abdi, 34, was among a large number of people we interviewed who said they were heading to the UK to try their luck again, after their asylum claims were rejected in other European countries. These are people who have already paid out thousands to people- smugglers to reach the Continent and had no wish to leave. Huda plans to apply for asylum in the UK after her original claim in the Netherlands was turned down when she was living in the northern city of Groningen. She told The Sun: 'I don't want to cross the Channel, but what choice do I have? "I spent seven years living in Holland and I was happy and settled there. 'Then one day in 2023 they told me to leave. Channel migrants queue for cash in hand jobs as secrets of UK's £260bn illegal economy revealed "They said my asylum claim had been rejected and I would be deported. 'They kicked me out of the refugee camp and I became homeless the same day. 'I was very upset and I still don't know why my asylum claim was turned down. "The people doing the interview did not believe what I said. 'But I know many, many people who had their claims rejected in Holland. "I don't think the Dutch government understands the situation in Somalia. 'I've tried to claim asylum in France, too, but they told me to go back to Holland. 'Now I'm sleeping in the Jungle and as soon as I can, I will make the crossing to the UK to claim asylum again. 'HUMANITY IN BRITAIN' 'There is more humanity in Britain and I want my children, who are ten and eight, to join me over there.' The decision by EU countries to get tough on immigration — in response to rising public concern — is reflected in the latest figures. In the first quarter of this year, there was a 17.6 per cent fall in asylum claims across the EU, according to the European Commission's statistics service Eurostat. At the same time, there was a 17 per cent rise in asylum claims in the UK, from 93,150 to 109,343, according to the Home Office. EU countries clamping down include the Netherlands, where the Party for Freedom, founded and led by firebrand Geert Wilders, rose to power before quitting the governing coalition this month. Elsewhere, the Alternative for Germany has become a major force, while in Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was elected on an anti-immigration ticket. Even centrist French President Emmanuel Macron has been forced to act tough on migration to see off the threat of Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party. European leaders have yanked away the welcome mat at the same time as they are ploughing millions into border security — with significant results. Irregular crossings to the Canary Islands from Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal and The Gambia in West Africa were down 34 per cent in the first quarter of this year, according to the EU's border security agency Frontex. 4 Somali mum Huda Abdi aims to apply for asylum in UK after being rejected in Holland Credit: Chris Eades Crossings into what is termed the Western Mediterranean — Africa into mainland Spain — were down ten per cent over the same period. The Central Mediterranean crossing point, where migrants take small boats from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Algeria to Italy and Malta — has witnessed a three per cent fall compared to last year. Meanwhile, there has been a 30 per cent reduction in crossings along the Eastern Mediterranean migrant route into Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria, where barbed wire fences have been erected along the border with Turkey. The Western Balkan passage through Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia has seen a 58 per cent reduction. And crossings from the Eastern land border, from Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and the Russian Federation, have dropped 37 per cent despite Vladimir Putin pushing migrants in that direction to stoke political unrest. The only border bucking the trend is what Frontex terms 'exits towards the UK', with Channel crossings up five per cent compared to the first three months of last year. Around 50,000 small boat asylum seekers are expected to reach our shores by the end of 2025 — each paying smugglers around £2,000 — which puts the UK on course to have more arrivals than Italy, where only 23,004 people landed in the past six months, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This is a huge reduction on the 157,651 who reached Italy in 2023, before the Italians paid £85million to Tunisia to boost border security. That figure seems like a bargain compared to the £476million that was given to French border police over three years by the UK Home Office. Aid worker Rob Lawrie has seen at first hand how the migrant wave has turned towards the UK, having spent ten years helping out at camps in northern France. 'CRIMINAL NETWORKS' Rob, from Leeds, who hosts the To Catch A Scorpion podcast, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the Dunkirk camp is now 'very full', with a 'few thousand' living there. He previously told the same programme: 'The problem is that asylum cases are dropping off massively in Europe in terms of being accepted. 'What we see in the camps of France is different nationalities from African nations — from Afghanistan, Iraq and other nations — they speak either German or Swedish or Belgian and Danish. 'And that's because they've been in those countries for two or three years and eventually had their second or third appeal denied. 'They're not going to go back to Eritrea, or whatever their country was, because of why they left. 'So their only option is now to go down to northern France and once again put their lives into the hands of these organised criminal networks.' Teenager Adau Abraham, from South Sudan, was among a stream of people travelling back and forth from Dunkirk's Jungle camp to the nearby Auchan supermarket when The Sun visited. Adau, 18, said: 'It is clear they don't want me here in France. "I tried to claim asylum at the application centre, but they told me I was too late and I would have to come back the next day and try again. 'Then, when I was walking back to the Jungle, the police stopped me and arrested me. I can't afford to waste any more time in Europe so I am going to England to try again Sadia Hassan "They said that as I didn't have any papers, I was illegal in France. "They put me in jail for three hours, which was terrifying. 'They told me they didn't want to see me again, that I had one week to leave France, or else.' Student Ali Yousef, 25, intends to move to Britain after he was kicked out of Germany. He said: 'I was living in Munich for a year or so and everything was good until they told me to leave. 'I had friends there and German people seemed nice, but the authorities do not care about our needs. 'They rejected my claim, even though I have tribal issues in Somalia. "I was deported last year and now I will go to the UK and try again.' Sadia Hassan, 20, from Adale, Somalia, had her asylum claims rejected by two EU countries. Standing with a female friend outside the Auchan store, she said: 'I lived in Holland for two years and they wasted my time. "Then I went to Germany and lived there for three months, but they said no, too. 'I can't afford to waste any more time in Europe so I am going to England to try again. 'If they reject me, I don't know what I will do" Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme - Sun Club.
The Sun
13 hours ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Speaking French, Swedish, German… the migrants booted out of EU in asylum crackdown & on small boats to ‘soft touch' UK
MORE than 2,000 migrants are massing in the Jungle camp outside Dunkirk in northern France. And their aim — to cross the Channel and take advantage of 'soft touch' Britain after they were turfed out by the EU countries where they previously lived. 4 Shocking new figures have revealed that while the number of asylum claims across Europe is falling, the figure for the UK is going up. And as small boat crossings to Britain are increasing daily, the level of 'irregular' crossings into the EU countries from Africa, the Balkans and Eastern Europe have significantly reduced. When The Sun visited the overcrowded Dunkirk camp, we were shocked to find that although it was packed full of Eritreans, Afghans and Somalis, we heard fluent conversations in German, Swedish, Belgian and Danish. And that is because a huge majority of the migrants waiting to come here have lived in those European countries for years. Somali mum-of-two Huda Abdi, 34, was among a large number of people we interviewed who said they were heading to the UK to try their luck again, after their asylum claims were rejected in other European countries. These are people who have already paid out thousands to people- smugglers to reach the Continent and had no wish to leave. Huda plans to apply for asylum in the UK after her original claim in the Netherlands was turned down when she was living in the northern city of Groningen. She told The Sun: 'I don't want to cross the Channel, but what choice do I have? "I spent seven years living in Holland and I was happy and settled there. 'Then one day in 2023 they told me to leave. "They said my asylum claim had been rejected and I would be deported. 'They kicked me out of the refugee camp and I became homeless the same day. 'I was very upset and I still don't know why my asylum claim was turned down. "The people doing the interview did not believe what I said. 'But I know many, many people who had their claims rejected in Holland. "I don't think the Dutch government understands the situation in Somalia. 'I've tried to claim asylum in France, too, but they told me to go back to Holland. 'Now I'm sleeping in the Jungle and as soon as I can, I will make the crossing to the UK to claim asylum again. 'HUMANITY IN BRITAIN' 'There is more humanity in Britain and I want my children, who are ten and eight, to join me over there.' The decision by EU countries to get tough on immigration — in response to rising public concern — is reflected in the latest figures. In the first quarter of this year, there was a 17.6 per cent fall in asylum claims across the EU, according to the European Commission's statistics service Eurostat. At the same time, there was a 17 per cent rise in asylum claims in the UK, from 93,150 to 109,343, according to the Home Office. EU countries clamping down include the Netherlands, where the Party for Freedom, founded and led by firebrand Geert Wilders, rose to power before quitting the governing coalition this month. Elsewhere, the Alternative for Germany has become a major force, while in Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was elected on an anti-immigration ticket. Even centrist French President Emmanuel Macron has been forced to act tough on migration to see off the threat of Marine Le Pen' s far-right National Rally party. European leaders have yanked away the welcome mat at the same time as they are ploughing millions into border security — with significant results. Irregular crossings to the Canary Islands from Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal and The Gambia in West Africa were down 34 per cent in the first quarter of this year, according to the EU's border security agency Frontex. 4 Crossings into what is termed the Western Mediterranean — Africa into mainland Spain — were down ten per cent over the same period. The Central Mediterranean crossing point, where migrants take small boats from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Algeria to Italy and Malta — has witnessed a three per cent fall compared to last year. Meanwhile, there has been a 30 per cent reduction in crossings along the Eastern Mediterranean migrant route into Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria, where barbed wire fences have been erected along the border with Turkey. The Western Balkan passage through Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia has seen a 58 per cent reduction. And crossings from the Eastern land border, from Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and the Russian Federation, have dropped 37 per cent despite Vladimir Putin pushing migrants in that direction to stoke political unrest. The only border bucking the trend is what Frontex terms 'exits towards the UK', with Channel crossings up five per cent compared to the first three months of last year. Around 50,000 small boat asylum seekers are expected to reach our shores by the end of 2025 — each paying smugglers around £2,000 — which puts the UK on course to have more arrivals than Italy, where only 23,004 people landed in the past six months, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This is a huge reduction on the 157,651 who reached Italy in 2023, before the Italians paid £85million to Tunisia to boost border security. That figure seems like a bargain compared to the £476million that was given to French border police over three years by the UK Home Office. Aid worker Rob Lawrie has seen at first hand how the migrant wave has turned towards the UK, having spent ten years helping out at camps in northern France. 'CRIMINAL NETWORKS' Rob, from Leeds, who hosts the To Catch A Scorpion podcast, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the Dunkirk camp is now 'very full', with a 'few thousand' living there. He previously told the same programme: 'The problem is that asylum cases are dropping off massively in Europe in terms of being accepted. 'What we see in the camps of France is different nationalities from African nations — from Afghanistan, Iraq and other nations — they speak either German or Swedish or Belgian and Danish. 'And that's because they've been in those countries for two or three years and eventually had their second or third appeal denied. 'They're not going to go back to Eritrea, or whatever their country was, because of why they left. 'So their only option is now to go down to northern France and once again put their lives into the hands of these organised criminal networks.' Teenager Adau Abraham, from South Sudan, was among a stream of people travelling back and forth from Dunkirk's Jungle camp to the nearby Auchan supermarket when The Sun visited. Adau, 18, said: 'It is clear they don't want me here in France. "I tried to claim asylum at the application centre, but they told me I was too late and I would have to come back the next day and try again. 'Then, when I was walking back to the Jungle, the police stopped me and arrested me. "They said that as I didn't have any papers, I was illegal in France. "They put me in jail for three hours, which was terrifying. 'They told me they didn't want to see me again, that I had one week to leave France, or else.' Student Ali Yousef, 25, intends to move to Britain after he was kicked out of Germany. He said: 'I was living in Munich for a year or so and everything was good until they told me to leave. 'I had friends there and German people seemed nice, but the authorities do not care about our needs. 'They rejected my claim, even though I have tribal issues in Somalia. "I was deported last year and now I will go to the UK and try again.' Sadia Hassan, 20, from Adale, Somalia, had her asylum claims rejected by two EU countries. Standing with a female friend outside the Auchan store, she said: 'I lived in Holland for two years and they wasted my time. "Then I went to Germany and lived there for three months, but they said no, too. 'I can't afford to waste any more time in Europe so I am going to England to try again. 'If they reject me, I don't know what I will do"
