Boat migrants who have crossed to the UK are encouraging their friends and family in France to do the same (Video)
The dangerous boat crossings from France to England aren’t slowing down, and it’s easy to see why when you hear what migrants are saying.
People who’ve made it to Britain are calling and messaging their friends back in France, telling them it’s worth the risk.
They talk about getting proper documents, finding work, and being treated well – stories that spread fast in migrant camps.
Take Ahmed from Kuwait. He’s spent thousands trying to cross seven times already, failing each time. But he won’t give up. “My family keeps sending money for me to try again,” he says.
In England I can get legal status and work as a computer programmer.” Then there’s Ali from Yemen, sitting in a French camp for months, convinced the UK will give him the help France hasn’t.
These conversations are like gasoline on a fire. Every success story convinces several more people to risk everything. Last year over 36,000 made it across – and tragically, at least 53 died trying. This year’s already seen 6,500 arrivals despite freezing winter waters.
The British government knows it’s got a crisis on its hands. PM Keir Starmer just held a big meeting with 40 countries to try stopping the smugglers.
They’re putting £33 million into special police teams and doing deals with countries like Serbia to share information. But it’s like playing whack-a-mole – close one smuggling route and another pops up.
Meanwhile, in French towns near the coast, shops still openly sell the cheap rubber boats and life jackets migrants use. It’s all perfectly legal, even though everyone knows what they’re being used for.
The smugglers couldn’t care less – they pack boats dangerously full, take the migrants’ life savings, and disappear.
At the heart of this is a simple truth: as long as Britain is seen as the land of opportunity with easy benefits and jobs, people will keep coming. And with wars, poverty and climate change pushing more people to flee their homes every year, this crisis isn’t going away anytime soon.
The government’s stuck between being humane and being tough, trying to find solutions that won’t make the problem worse. But out in the Channel, the small boats keep coming, wave after wave.
