Thirty men, women and children. Above their heads they carry a large inflatable boat. A West Flemish woman did not know what she saw on Tuesday morning when she went for a walk on the beach in Bray-Dunes, France. A group of transmigrants prepared to make the crossing to Great Britain. Two French agents also saw the incident and spoke to the group. However, they were firmly outnumbered and the transmigrants did not care much for their presence. The video shows how they launch the boat and start their journey.
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Once at sea, France accompanies those people to English waters. There, the United Kingdom is then obliged to take them over and leave them ashore
As remarkable as the images are to us, in France it is daily fare. Chief of Police Nicholas Paelinck of the West Coast police zone also knows this. “In the past two days, 35 boats carrying 1,604 transmigrants were intercepted in the North Sea,” he says. “In Belgium, in such cases, a rescue operation is set up to retrieve them, but in France the situation is different. Once at sea, those people are escorted to English waters. There, the United Kingdom is then obliged to take them over and leave them ashore.”
In 2022, 34,672 transmigrants arrived in the United Kingdom. Last year there were 28,526. But in 2020 there were ‘only’ 8,404. France is now looking to tighten the legislation.