French police puncture migrant boats

Knight

Knight

Well-known Member
French police puncture migrant boats at sea for first time


Partial text

French police have punctured Channel migrants’ boats at sea for the first time in a change of tactics backed by Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary.

Officers armed with knives entered the sea at a beach near Boulogne-sur-Mer on Friday to puncture the dinghies in water shallow enough to enable migrants on board to wade back to the shore.

Dozens of migrants, including some women and children, had to give up their attempt to reach the UK as the boat began to deflate and sink.

It is understood the knife puncturing was part of initial trials by France to establish the most effective tactics for stopping migrants from leaving.

Ms Cooper said it was a “different” and “welcome” strategy that was part of wider plans for French border police and gendarmes to start intervening in shallow waters within 300 metres of the shore to stop migrants’ boats leaving.

It comes after a record 20,422 migrants have reached the UK so far this year – up nearly 50 per cent on last year and the highest number in the first six months of any year since the Channel crossings started in 2018.

Some 5,170 people arrived last month alone.

Nice to read about countries helping each other.
 

Are there countries that have citizens brave enough to form militias (protests change nothing) in an attempt to overpower totalitarian leaders, or do they just run away to free countries?
 
Apparently there was somekind of agreement between France and the UK that France would help stop migrants from crossing the channel. Might not be a treaty just a pledge.

They both should be messaging current policy at the migrants actual starting point to get some to think about it and spread to word to others thinking about going to Europe
 

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Thank God..it made my day to see that in the papers this monrng..... you have no idea how many problems are being created here by Illegal immigrants coming in on inflatable boats from france.
It's just diabolical.. and the French police for the last few years have been turning a blind eye to it.. but this last few weeks thye seem to have upped their game at preventing these people from sailing to our little Island
 
I think it's kind of hilarious that there was a mural done in France which shows Lady Liberty hiding her face in shame. And this is in a country that is actively going out slicing open migrant boats and doing a major Crackdown on illegal immigration.

And they have the gall to tell us to be ashamed for what we're doing?
 
Tom52 said:
Are these French citizens or migrants passing thru France get to the UK? If migrants where are they coming from originally?
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NOT French citizens. The source countries are spread out across Eastern Europe, the Middle East, all of the African continent, and south east Asia. They are economic refugees in most cases, but some can claim to be "fleeing war in their home land". If you look at the faces, they are mostly young single males, with some married couples, with kids under age 8. JIM.
 
It seems immigration is much more intense than ever before, and some countries are being overwhelmed. It's world wide. I don't know where the breaking points are, but I think, maybe incorrectly, that there is a breaking point. We may be close to that. Let's say immigration is stopped. I'm curious to know what will happen in the countries from which it starts? Maybe it's not our problem. But it's someone's problem, and I'm wondering what happens then.

I don't have a clue. We've never been here before, well not in my lifetime.
 
JustDave said:
It seems immigration is much more intense than ever before, and some countries are being overwhelmed. It's world wide. I don't know where the breaking points are, but I think, maybe incorrectly, that there is a breaking point. We may be close to that. Let's say immigration is stopped. I'm curious to know what will happen in the countries from which it starts? Maybe it's not our problem. But it's someone's problem, and I'm wondering what happens then.

I don't have a clue. We've never been here before, well not in my lifetime.
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I suggest that in the years AFTER the end of WW2, the number of refugees was MUCH greater than today. Millions of "displaced persons" were on the roads in Europe, looking for a place to try to live. The western Allies banded together to TRY to deal with the problem, but they were only partly successful in that attempt. The US Marshall Plan was one attempt that was partly helpful, but most of those funds went into rebuilding infrastructure, not housing. JIM.
 
hollydolly said:
Thank God..it made my day to see that in the papers this monrng..... you have no idea how many problems are being created here by Illegal immigrants coming in on inflatable boats from france.
It's just diabolical.. and the French police for the last few years have been turning a blind eye to it.. but this last few weeks thye seem to have upped their game at preventing these people from sailing to our little Island
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Your immigrants must be different than ours. The ones that come here from Latin American just want to do the back breaking jobs nobody else wants for low pay.
 
jimintoronto said:
I suggest that in the years AFTER the end of WW2, the number of refugees was MUCH greater than today. Millions of "displaced persons" were on the roads in Europe, looking for a place to try to live. The western Allies banded together to TRY to deal with the problem, but they were only partly successful in that attempt. The US Marshall Plan was one attempt that was partly helpful, but most of those funds went into rebuilding infrastructure, not housing. JIM.
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I was too young to do anything other than grasp that a lot of Germans had migrated to the US, but that was just in my situation, where my mother's parents came from Germany, so a lot of Germans showed up at my house from time to time. They only came to visit, not live with us, and most of them were quite skilled, and to a seven year old kid seemed quite smart.

But I don't know the data, and that may be over shadowed by the media coverage. I don't know if there were more now than before, but it seems like these dictator/religious/poor countries are exploding at the seams. It's a bit unnerving.
 
JustDave said:
I was too young to do anything other than grasp that a lot of Germans had migrated to the US, but that was just in my situation, where my mother's parents came from Germany, so a lot of Germans showed up at my house from time to time. They only came to visit, not live with us, and most of them were quite skilled, and to a seven year old kid seemed quite smart.

But I don't know the data, and that may be over shadowed by the media coverage. I don't know if there were more now than before, but it seems like these dictator/religious/poor countries are exploding at the seams. It's a bit unnerving.
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In the ten years following the end of the war in September of 1945, more than a MILLION refugees came to Canada, to make a new life here. Combined with the approximately one million returning Canadian service men, that population increase brought unrivaled prosperity to my country. The demand for new houses, cars, schools, and new furniture was tremendous. Veterans took advantage of the free educational programs at our Universities, and got paid to get a 4 year degree. Others got no interest loans, to buy land, build houses, and start a business based on skills they had learned in our military forces during the war.

Today's international refugees are a much different type of problem. JIM.
 
Trade said:
Your immigrants must be different than ours. The ones that come here from Latin American just want to do the back breaking jobs nobody else wants for low pay.
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Someone here from the UK can correct me if I’m wrong. My British friends all tell the stories from back home. The immigrants are given and demand so much. They’ll get medical priority over citizens. Subsidized housing. They know what they can get and demand it.

Whereas, many immigrants from South American countries coming to the US have to accept grunt labour to get by and they’re willing to do it.

We have Mexican, Honduran, etc workers come to Canada on work permits in the summer. They’re hard workers and don’t have the greatest conditions. It’s interesting to see how happy they are when shopping on a Friday night.

An acquaintance runs a support group for some of these workers. They appreciate everything they’re given.
 
Personally, I find it sad that so many people are happy because the misery of a group of people was made worse. Those migrants didn't make the UK (this time), but they'll just come in another boat. In the mean time, they're migrants in France - is that better?

No-one these days cares about the circumstances, no-one is curious about what has driven people from their lands. No-one has an ounce of compassion or sympathy for the horrors these people are running from. Instead, they slap them with the "illegals" tag are look to demean them as though they're barely human. How can you feel better about yourself whilst doing so? Is it because of your wealth? Because of the luck of the lottery of birth?

Not to mention, we recently had a thread about Spaniards using a water pistol on tourists. The general tone was that the locals were wrong to do as they did, largely because "tourists are spending money". Good grief. How many people here went to live in foreign countries? If so, do you really think it's much better for the locals because you had a credit card? Economies would recover from no tourist dollars. It's a shocking sense of entitlement that essentially says: I'm wealthy enough to buy what I want, the immigrants aren't.

Urgh.

I guess I don't understand how human beings can feel such obvious hatred for another group of people with nothing. Or obvious joy in the misery of others. Does it really make people feel good that someone with nothing is denied even due process?

Should they enter countries illegally? No. But there's a process to deal with that, and that process needs to do its thing. That people seem to get joy out of this is beyond me. It smacks of a feeling of superiority. IMO YMMV

I find it hard to believe this is simple a matter of "the law is the law". It seems to go way beyond that. If, for example, you go to live extended time in, say, Spain - are you really better because you have cash? And while, in purely economic terms, the advantage is clear, is that really how you judge people in your life? More money ='s more justified?
 
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OldOld said:
I am curious why they don't stay in France? (After all they are already in France). Can they not make a living in France?
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From what I understand, some of them already had families in the UK. But who knows? You'll probably hear some claim it's because they get given benefits in the UK, but frankly it's all part of a delusion, imo.
 
Manatee said:
What no one has mentioned is the criminals that have invaded the U.S. Drug dealers, criminals and cartel members that have illegally come to the U.S.
They had to build Alligator Alcatraz to house them.
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On the contrary, my impression is that all of these immigrants are slapped with the label of being criminals of some sort.

Cartels are a different matter, and I confess I find it difficult to think through. Yes, cartels are bad. Yes, the drugs they peddle are bad. But the simple fact is, there is huge demand in the US. Drugs go one way, guns go the other. I'm not sure, as death happens, that it matters so much if one is shot or overdosed. Either is a wanton disregard for our fellow humans for monetary gain, no?

My thought here is in accepting that the so called "war on drugs" has been going on for over 50 years. Over that time, over a trillion dollars has been spent. Each year, the US alone spends nearing $40bn every year on the effort. And where are we? Are we better off than in the early 1970's?

I'm conflicted. As someone who lives outside the drug world, I have an automatic "they're bad", attitude. Yet almost 60m Americans use illegal drugs each year. Over 80,000 people in the US died through illegal drug use last year in the US. Against my dislike for the practice, a heck of a lot seem to find it acceptable.

What this has to do with illegal immigrants is questionable. Illegal immigrants are shown to commit less crime than the US born populace.

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/08/1237...it-crimes-than-us-born-americans-studies-find

Yet. a crime by an illegal immigrant is amplified in the media.
 
IMO quantity of illegal immigrants is the issue.
US Undocumented Population Increased to 11.7 Million in July 2023: Provisional CMS Estimates Derived from CPS Data
Robert Warren
September 5, 2024
US Undocumented Population Increased to 11.7 Million in July 2023: Provisional CMS Estimates Derived from CPS Data - The Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS)
Probably the same in the UK that is why the French are helping. Since I live in America this
is about the impact here.

California a state with the most illegal immigrants

California farm groups look to stabilize workforce amid crackdown on illegal immigration
March 12, 2025
Although a growing number of the state’s farmworkers are hired temporarily through the cumbersome H-2A visa program, at least half of an estimated 255,700 farmworkers are undocumented immigrants, according to UC Merced research.
California farm groups look to stabilize workforce amid crackdown on illegal immigration.

Almost a quarter of all immigrants without a college degree work in construction, a total of 2.2 million workers as of last month. Restaurants (1.1 million), janitorial and other cleaning services (526,000) and landscaping (454,000),
Stateline analysis of federal Current Population Survey data provided by ipums.org at the University of Minnesota.

There is the influx of an estimated 6 million plus in addition to the estimated 5 million already imbedded in America. Total of 11 million plus.

Farm worker estimate 127,850 in California accounts for some. 4 million 280,000 thousand in non farm. Rough total works out to around 4 million 407,850 thousand.

I suspect joining a gang might absorb some of the illegals that aren't picking crops or in non farm jobs.

Latino gangs

10th Street Gang
18th Street gang
7th Street Gang
Almighty Saints
Barrio Azteca
Cali Cartel
Dominicans Don't Play
Folk Nation
Fresno Bulldogs
Ghetto Brothers
Gulf Cartel
Hermanos de Pistoleros Latinos
Imperial Gangsters
Jalisco New Generation Cartel
Jheri Curls
Juárez Cartel
La Familia Michoacana
La Línea
La Raza Nation
Latin Counts
Latin Eagles
Latin Kings
Lopers
Los Mexicles
Los Solidos
Los Zetas
Maniac Latin Disciples
Marielitos
Medellín Cartel
Mexican Mafia
Mexikanemi
MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha)
Ñetas
Norteños
Nuestra Familia
People Nation
Puro Tango Blast
Savage Nomads
Savage Skulls
Sinaloa Cartel
Beltrán-Leyva Cartel
Spanish Cobras
Spanish Gangster Disciples
Sureños
38th Street gang
The Avenues
Azusa 13
Culver City Boys 13
El Monte Flores 13
Florencia 13
Logan Heights Gang
OVS
Playboys
Puente 13
Santa Monica 13
Temple Street
Toonerville Rifa 13
Varrio Nuevo Estrada
Venice 13
Westside Locos 13
White Fence
Texas Syndicate
Tijuana Cartel
Tren de Aragua
Trinitario
Vatos Locos

If there are the estimated 11 million plus illegal immigrants in America. Between the gangs & employed. That leaves a potential 5 million doing what? I should have not focused on only Latinos. The estimate of 16% from other countries is significant.
Latin American and Caribbean immigrants combined accounted for 84 percent of all unauthorized immigrants in 2023 (see Table 1).Feb 2, 2025
Google Search
 
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OldOld said:
I am curious why they don't stay in France? (After all they are already in France). Can they not make a living in France?
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As far as I’m aware, the Dublin Regulation states that asylum seekers are supposed to claim 'asylum' in the first safe country they reach. That seems a reasonable principle to me, regardless of whether a particular country is signed up to it or not. How many 'safe countries' might they have travelled through before getting to Northern France, then onto the UK

I vaguely recall reports that some migrants fear deportation from France, as the French asylum system is perceived to be more restrictive or slower. The UK system, though complex and currently under strain, is seen by some as offering better chances for family reunification or eventual settlement. In reality, and despite the rhetoric in certain tabloid newspapers, newly arrived asylum seekers in the UK have limited access to welfare and cannot work while their claims are being processed.

So where are they coming from? Those documented as “illegal migrants” to the UK, Home Office figures for 2024 list the top five source countries as: Afghanistan – 17%; Syria – 13%; Iran – 12%; Vietnam – 12%; Eritrea – 10%

That raised a question for me: what’s going on in Vietnam that’s causing some people to risk illegal entry into the UK? Other source countries include Sudan, Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait, and Albania. These figures fluctuate year to year; not long ago, there was a surge in illegal migrants to the UK from the Horn of Africa countries (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan). Do all of these people have family here already? Possibly not. Who is encouraging them to cross continents, the Mediterranean Sea, the English Channel, and come to the UK. Who is selling it to them?

Where illegal immigration exists, money is to be made. Depending on the route and country of origin, smugglers are reported to charge between €3,000 and €15,000 (£2,600–£13,000) (US $3,500 - $17,500). No doubt they, and or their families in their home countries, remain in debt to the people they are paying to get them to the UK. That always makes me wonder: would it not be cheaper and less dangerous for some to attempt illegal entry using a well-forged passport? Instead, many risk crossing one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, the Dover Strait, where over 500 ships per day pass through.

It’s been reported that Organised Crime Groups buy dinghies and outboard motors in bulk and transport them through Germany and Belgium to northern France. They were photographed in workhouses in Germany and Belgium. Authorities seized over 600 boats and engines in joint European operations. One example in Bulgaria alone, 125 boats and 128 engines were confiscated. Clear evidence of a logistical operation. Migrants aren’t hauling dinghies on their backs across continents themselves.

And it’s not just mainland Europe. There have been significant arrests within the UK too:
Ahmed Ebid, operating from London, ran a £12 million smuggling ring, sourcing fishing vessels and coordinating Mediterranean crossings.
Hama Khoshnaw (aka Rahimpur), from east London, is believed to have smuggled around 10,000 people and helped organise boat procurement across Europe.

Smuggling in illegal immigrants is clearly big business for some.
 
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Magna-Carta said:
In reality, and despite the rhetoric in certain tabloid newspapers, newly arrived asylum seekers in the UK have limited access to welfare and cannot work while their claims are being processed.
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Don't they get shelter, food, and basic healthcare? I can't believe it if they don't.
 
OldOld said:
Don't they get shelter, food, and basic healthcare? I can't believe it if they don't.
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Of course they do. As far as I can tell, asylum seekers, illegal or otherwise, receive basic support, which includes accommodation, often in hostels, hotels, or shared housing, a small cash allowance, and access to urgent healthcare.

The daily allowance is around £7 a day, meant to cover food, toiletries, and travel. If they're in hotel accommodation where food is provided, that allowance is reduced.

They also can't work while waiting for their claim to be assessed, and that process can take months or even years. So they're essentially stuck: unable to work, unable to properly integrate, but also not able to leave.
 
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OldOld said:
So the UK tax payers pay for those, and the migrants have all the basic needs covered (unlike in their countries of origin), no worries.
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You have lost me. What don't you have no worries about? What are you being sarcastic about?

UK taxpayers do fund it, as part of the legal obligation to provide basic support while asylum claims are assessed. As with every civilized country.
 
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