#Channelmigrants a conflicted view!

I am challenging myself to write this blog. Why is it a challenge? It is a challenge because like many I suspect - I have a conflicted view which I am not sure it is sensible to reveal or face down. However I have decided to do so because it is a debate that requires action. Someone has to decide what to do. What would I do?

The plight of migrants, illegal immigrants or asylum seekers (choose your own noun) crossing the English Channel in the middle of winter in small poorly equipped boats is disturbing. (94 have been detained in Kent since Christmas Day). Yesterday our Home Secretary described this relatively new phenomenon as "a major incident" and he has appointed himself as "gold commander" to address the problem. Without being facetious what is the problem?

The "problem" that needs to be addressed is likely to be different depending on your point of view. This is the nub of the debate. Is the fundamental problem :-

• Human life is paramount. How do we stop desperate people putting their lives at risk in a desperate attempt to get to the UK for a better life.

or

• How do we keep these people out because we don't want them here (the country is full - there is been far too much uncontrolled migration) - what they are doing is illegal - and if any of them succeed in their attempt - it will only encourage more to try.

Put more simply - do these people deserve our compassion or our condemnation? Are they desperate or are they criminal? Are they seeking sanctuary from persecution or are they on the make?

This is one narrative :-

These people are desperate. They are fleeing conflict. Many are apparently persecuted Kurds in origin. They have a right to decide where they want to seek asylum and this is the only way in practice that they now stand a chance to get to the UK. (Calais port and tunnel now much more effectively guarded). Many are exploited by people traffickers. (apparently they are being told go now - because it will be much harder after Brexit). While we would prefer them not to set out in small boats once they do the ONLY consideration - the paramount consideration above all others - is the sanctity of human life. They must be brought to safety and looked after with kindness and consideration. Their case for political asylum must now be considered both objectively and fully. Who can argue with that?

This is a second narrative :-

Probably millions of people would like to get to the UK because it is perceived as the land of milk and honey. They are economic migrants. They are acting illegally. Their boats should be turned back at every opportunity and they should be sent back to France as soon as they are landed. To do otherwise will encourage more to come and we neither need or want them. They are queue jumpers. They certainly are not genuine asylum seekers because under the Dublin convention asylum seekers must seek sanctuary in the first safe haven they get to. France is definitely a safe haven - so they should not be here.

Some people hold either one of the above views - only see one narrative. Most I suspect relate to both. Most people are conflicted. Would it be inaccurate to suggest that at an individual level - a personal level there is compassion - even if they are economic migrants trying to improve their lot - but the scale - the invasion - is without much sympathy. They must be stopped - they must be seen to fail otherwise hordes more will be encouraged to attempt to come to the UK through the back door - and we definitely do not want that.

I think I am going to end this blog because I do not need to explore more. It is obvious I cannot resolve it. I am conflicted. Like most I have a soft heart. Put yourself in the migrants situation. What would you do? Wouldn't you try to improve your lot - try to improve your offer to your family. Aren't they showing tremendous courage and fortitude - or must they not, be truly desperate? So my answer to the problem of cross channel migrants, I think is we have to muddle along - to be pragmatic. We have to rescue people. At a personal level we have to show compassion without doubt. But somehow overall I think we have to discourage attempts. The only real way to do that is to ensure their failure - so boats have to be turned back to France and therefore have to be intercepted earlier, people traffickers have to be disrupted and we must deport people when they are here illegally. The Dublin Convention has to be upheld too. (People must understand they are required to ask for asylum at the first opportunity - the first safe country they come to. Subsequently we may or may not take some as part of an international response.)

The sad irony is the UK is unlikely to be a land of milk and honey (although of course it is if you are genuinely fleeing war or persecution). For the vast majority of migrants their life while their asylum claim is being processed is likely to be pretty grim. In many cases they will be held in a detention centre and even if they are not, they are not able to work legally and will be housed in economically deprived areas where housing costs are cheap. Their existence will be pretty grim because there is hardly enough money to look after our own properly. If they do get permission to stay, it will be hard to move forward and there is no getting away from the fact that many people have an antipathy towards migrants - ironically because there are so many of them and their presence is resented.

What a terrible human tragedy to be dealing with at anytime - but particularly at Christmas time. What will 2019 hold for these desperate people. Your heart has to go out to them - but then there are millions like them - part of the human cycle. Put more brutally - Darwinian theory being played out in real life I guess.