UK to Ban Asylum Claims from Illegals Caught at Sea Leaving Safety of Europe

Britain
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Victoria Friedman

Britain will ban illegal aliens from making asylum claims if they are intercepted at sea after leaving the safety of the European mainland, the government has claimed.

The law will replace European Union rules under the Dublin agreement and will come into force in 2021 when the United Kingdom leaves the EU’s institutions.

While under the current regulations asylum seekers’ applications can be denied if they have already passed through a safe country before entering the United Kingdom the system makes this very difficult in practice, and the British government’s new measures would go further by rejecting claims from migrants picked up at sea by British authorities.

The Times revealed that on Wednesday the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had dropped criminal charges against 69 Albanians who had travelled illegally into British territory on a fishing trawler because they had been apprehended at sea. This was despite ten of the migrants pleading guilty and commencing their eight-week prison sentences.

A CPS official told the newspaper that charges of illegal entry into the country cannot be filed if a person had not set foot on British soil, with the current laws not covering British territorial waters.

In order to stop such incidents occurring after Brexit, Immigration Minister Christopher Philp said on Thursday, according to The Telegraph, that “We are determined to fix the broken asylum system to make it firm on those who come here through illegally-facilitated routes and fair on those who play by the rules. There is no reason to leave a safe country like France to make a dangerous crossing.

“These measures send a clear message and are just one of the steps the Government is taking to tackle the unacceptable rise in small boat crossings.”

This year has seen a massive rise in the number of illegal landings of migrants — mostly young men from the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa — who have crossed the English Channel from France in dinghies and other small boats, with the government facing criticism for failing to tackle the crime.

Mr Philp also said that this endeavour “includes working with our French Partners to stop migrants leaving a safe country and making these dangerous journeys”.

The French have so far been resistant to Britain turning the boats back to their territory, with Nigel Farage reporting earlier in the year on the French navy escorting migrant vessels into British waters. People-smugglers even claimed in 2019 that French authorities were advising migrants on the best time to leave in order to avoid Britain’s Border Force.

Last month, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that £28 million in British taxpayers’ money would be going to the French to try to persuade them to stop illegal migration. Despite France receiving £192 million from the British since 2014, Gallic authorities have failed to stop some 8,500 illegals that have landed on Britain or entered British waters since the beginning of 2020 alone.

Even following the renewed pledge of millions more, last week the British government admitted that there is currently no agreement between the two parties to return boats at sea.

The measures are part of a wider set of reforms to the United Kingdom’s refugee and asylum system planned by the home secretary, who is planning on next tackling “activist lawyers” who facilitate oftentimes multiple consecutive legal challenges to delay deportation of foreign criminals and others who have no right to be in the country.

Breitbart London reported on Thursday that activist lawyers had worked to stop the deportation of 23 illegals — representing the majority of passengers on a planned removal flight — claiming that the migrants who had crossed the English Channel were victims of human trafficking and modern slavery.

Ms Patel also wants to make it more difficult for foreign criminals facing deportation to apply for asylum, with murderers and rapists claiming it would be a breach of their human rights to send them back if they would be at risk of “abuse” or the death penalty if they returned to their home countries after committing serious crimes.

Last week, a Turkish drugs lord who has been deemed a “danger to the community” in Britain was spared his return to NATO member and EU applicant Turkey on the grounds that his life would be in danger due to his ties to Kurdish separatists and because he was a criminal.

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