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If lots of illegal immigrants without adequate papers are allowed on cross channel ferries by lax French border officials and end up at Dover, from what I recall, international law is quite clear they can and will be sent back on the next boat.
Of course the French could mischievously issue said immigrants with French papers, but this would be easy to spot and deal with.
Monday, 8 February 2016
What a load of alarmist nonsense
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9 comments:
The same people who go silly about the EU, take it for granted that our border controls are along the French coast not the English coast.
I think we will end up with refugee camps on British land even if we stay in the EU. It would be fun to see them popping up on the South Downs, but I expect they would probably be shipped up north out of the way. Can't have anything affecting property prices in the prosperous south east now, can we?
Agreed, add it to the long list of non-arguments for staying in.
Yup.
If they had good arguments, they wouldn't be bothering with transparently bollocks arguments like this.
Thinking on... So what if they had recently issued French passports? As as non EU member, we could send back anybody we don't like the look of:-)
"If they had good arguments, they wouldn't be bothering with transparently bollocks arguments like this."
I agree, a moment's thought shows the idiocy of such arguments. However, not many people give such things even a moment's thought.
If anyone has been following news from Sweden, since the start of the year they have introduced ID checks when entering from Denmark, which have not been required for 60 years (Nordic Passport Union predates Schengen). There are no ID checks when entering Denmark from Sweden.
If you take the ferry or the train, then it is Swedish police who actually conduct the checks once you arrive on Swedish soil. If they find anyone without the correct papers, they will fine the Danish state railway or the Australian group which operates the ferry. So these organisations have employed private security contractors to check your ID before allowing you on the train. Interestingly, they don't bother checking your ticket, but they do photograph your passport to prove that it has been checked.
There have been several cases where people who are admissible to Sweden (such as Swedish citizens) have been denied transport by the private contractors working on behalf of the Danish state railway due to insufficient ID.
Of course, this is all a ploy to stifle growth in the Copenhagen-Malmo area by far-away politicians in Stockholm.
However, the same principle would apply to the UK-France border. Even if governmental checks are conducted on UK soil, all the UK has to do is to impose heavy fines on Eurostar/Eurotunnel/ferry companies (by putting them in contracts) if anyone arriving in the UK is improperly documented.
This way, it isn't up to "lax French border police" as the private companies have an interest in not getting fined.
Speaking of lax French border police, I have lost count of the number of times my brown American friends and relatives have been allowed to enter France and Italy (via flights from the USA) just by waving an American passport, not even opening it and much less getting it stamped or scanned. This continued to happen even after the recent attacks and M. Hollande's rhetoric about 'closing the borders'.
Curtis, yes, good points about the practicalities. I still feel sorry for the lorry drivers though.
@MW
It must, though, be a temptation for drivers to pocket a thousand pounds from people smugglers and leave the back doors open, then, if caught, proclaim "Where did they come from?I didn't hear a thing!" It's the driver's company that gets the fine.
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