• Europe. Migrants trying to cross the English Channel: "I'd rather drown than not make it to the UK"

The British Home Office tried to charter a plane with 23 illegal immigrants who had crossed the English Channel to Spain, their place of "entry" into Europe, according to 'The Times'. The operation was suspended at the last minute due to legal recourse brought by lawyers to avoid deportation, prompting an angry reaction from Interior Secretary Priti Patel.

The number of immigrants who have tried to cross the 33 kilometers of the English Channel in boats has multiplied by five this year (4,343 between January and August, compared to 857 in 2019). Patel herself intervened in June calling for greater responsibility to European countries in the face of the flow of people seeking asylum in the United Kingdom. This same week, 12 illegal immigrants were deported to France and Germany , and another 14 bound for various EU countries did so in the last month.

The Home Secretary last week caused a diplomatic storm with France, alleging that immigrants are trying to reach British shores fleeing "racism" and the risk of torture in the neighboring country. Deputy Pierre-Henry Dumont , who represents Calais in the National Assembly, replied by criticizing the British authorities for "lack of humanity".

On 19 August a 16-year-old Sudanese immigrant, Abdulfatah Hamdallah , was found dead on the French coast , who tried to cross the canal with an inflatable boat and using paddles as paddles. A friend of his who was accompanying him and managed to survive told the police that the paddles had punctured the boat and that Abdulfatah could not swim.

Priti Patel blamed the death on the activity of human trafficking gangs. However, all the indications point to the fact that the Sudanese teenager and his companion acted on their own. His death served at least to intensify collaboration between the British and French Governments to reinforce surveillance and dismantle the camps on the Normandy coast.

Meanwhile, the Home Office released a video accusing "activist" lawyers of obstructing the deportation of illegal immigrants: "The Government's efforts to facilitate the repatriation of people who have entered the UK in a illegal are frustrated at the last minute by legal recourse. " The video was withdrawn a few hours after the barrage of criticism.

The frustration of the British government has been further in light of the latest data, which reveals the largest rise in net immigration in the country since the EU referendum in 2016. A total of 715,000 immigrants arrived in the UK as of March of this year , when the coronavirus pandemic started, in front of 405,000 Britons who emigrated, which yields a "positive" balance of 310,000 (three times the "ceiling" of 100.00 a year promised at the time by David Cameron ). The increase was mainly due to the growth of students from outside the EU, mainly from China and India.

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