Migrants in calais

[Topmansmithy]

This should generate some good discussion- what's your view on it all?

It looks to me as if it's all well organised - they are coming up from places like italy, all phoning each other up and saying England is the place to get to because we are an easy touch. They know they'll get nothing from France or Italy.

I'm gobsmacked to think these lorries are not more secure - surely they shouldn't be that easy to open..

All a bit scary......

 

[Celsus]

Yes, thousands of migrants are coming in to the EU both into Italy, Spain and France.
The biggest single 'volume movements' are probably the boats crossing the Med into southern Italy, reason why that is also where you get most news stories from. Not many migrants from Arab countries or Africa speaks Italian, reason why they transit through as quickly as possible. A good portion do though speak French, especially from the northern African countries, so those migrants tend to stay on the southern French coastline along the Meds. The attraction about UK is probably a combination of several things, such as they do understand/speak the language already and the idea (fact?) that its easier to find a job to earn a living. Mind you, the unemployment rate in Italy and France and especially in Spain are very high. And communication from succeeding migrants back to their friends and families are bound to be spread eagerly in the community back home where they migrated from.
EDIT: Just found the numbers: Italy 13%, France 10%, Spain 26% and the UK 6% unemployment rate.

For the lorries, then yes, one would think it would be easier to lock them better. Cutters and other tools are though often being used by the migrants to force them open. No simple solution exist for such migration problem, but rest assured, the majority do not leave their home just for comfort reasons. Traumatic living conditions are typically at play, and the root cause of that needs solving before you will see a stop to migrants risking their all for the faint hope of a better life.

 

[chris lowe]

I think the Australians have got the right idea, they either send the boats back or take them to Papua New Guinea (I think) and put them into a holding camp until they can be processed properly. The "rules" are that they should be returned to their point of entry. Unfotunately for Italy that means they get the brunt of the problem which is probably why they don't try and enforce their border with other countries. Although the majority are trying to escape from terrible conditions some are just economic refugees who think they can come here and it's the land of milk and honey (or is that money?)

The lorries need to be made more secure, if they carry food and found with "refugees" in with their load then it has to be destroyed and that will have a knock on effect on all of us

 

[Patricia21]

Im sitting in my cosy house with all I need,I perhaps have more than I need in material things,we have been fortunate to be able to work for what we have got in retirement.it hasnt always been easy and they were not always good old days.but I have never lived in terrible conditions,and I have never had to be afraid.
I realy feel for these poor people trying to escape from terrible conditions and fear,enough to risk there lives and I realy have no answers.
The people on boats women children who have lost there lives ,I blame people making money from this.
What I dont realy understand is when they have got into the EU why do they want to come to the UK,because I dont believe they can claim anything.

 

[Janiept]

I saw an interesting interview with a journalist last night where she compared these migrants to the Jews during WWII who fled their homes because if they stayed they would inevitably suffer and die. She asked whether the atrocities committed then would have happened if we had intervened and stopped the Nazis.
Until I watched this interview I had been pretty much of the send them back brigade but it made me think more deeply about the causes, however I don't understand why so many of the migrants seem to be single men. Where are their families - have they left them at home defenceless while the migrants search for a country that will allow them to stay?
I confess that their audacity in breaking into the lorries rankles though, but surely if the French authorities were more vigilant that would stop. The British government's strategy of fining the lorry drivers is another bug bear, trying to make it the driver's responsibility rather than the authorities.
As you can tell from this rambling I am confused and have no answers but i'm pleased to see this thread and am interested to read others' thoughts.

 

[JAY1JAY1]

Lorries more secure???
They cut through roofs , floors and curtains. Gas drivers while they sleep so they can get in with out being seen , rope themselves to the chassis and with the French police turning a blind eye because they don't won't them there's little the drivers can do . It happens it has happened to me ,that is why I don't go over the water any more.

 

[lizdeluz]

The migrants who jump the lorries and coaches are young, male and strong. They take a big risk which tells us that for them this level of risk is better than what they've left behind. We heard them beating on the floor of our coach from their precarious position hanging on underneath as we were flying down the motorway away from Calais. They'd climbed onto the axle areas of our coach while it was parked at Calais and they'd wrongly assumed we were headed for the ferry, rather than for the interior of France. When we cottoned on that the beating noise was human and got the driver to stop, they jumped off and ran back up the road towards Calais. This mistake could easily have cost these two men their lives.
I haven't a clue how this will be solved. People are more aware of, and less prepared to accept, inequality of experience and opportunity, and who can blame them?