If Our Border Officials Can't Do Their Job, Should We Now Send In The Troops?

[anotheoldgit]

/// But, in a bizarre intervention yesterday, a human rights activist said the two groups of stowaways should not be called illegal immigrants. ///

/// Nils Muiznieks, a Council of Europe commissioner, said such language was dehumanising. ///

What planet are these sort of people on? You could not make it up.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3506111/Pictured-moment-26-migrants-including-five-children-jammed-lorry-near-Dartford-Crossing.html

[Islay]

Should we send in the troops?

NO

[Togo]

We are to call them 'gifts from Allah'.

[Gromit]

I have not read the link.

1. No we should not redeploy our troops to border control.

2. They would probably be no better at it.

3. We should employ more border control operatives. Since 2010 when the Conservatives took over the country, 5000 border agency jobs have been cut.

4. I'm not sure it matters what you call the problem, and arguing whether to call them refugees, migrants or illegal immigrants achieves pricisely nothing.

[Islay]

Gromit not just under the tories - Labour started with the massive job cuts.

[CrapAtCryptics]

If they cant recognise 2 lorries chock a block full of people with all the technology they have what use are they - even opening the back door for a few seconds would have revealed them - hardly high tech but effective. As for the human rights idiot they didnt come legally so called illegals is correct.

[anotheoldgit]

Then why shouldn't we not send in the troops?

One of their jobs is to protect this country from foreign invasion, and if this type of thing is not an invasion, I don't know what is.

/// More than 30,000 people were caught trying to sneak into Britain from France and Belgium in just the first four months of 2015-16. Alarmingly, the numbers do not include those who evaded capture. ///

[Gromit]

crapatcryptics

Quite obviously the lorry was not inspected at the Port where it entered the UK. It is not a matter of them being bad at their job, it is a matter of there not being enough personnel to do the job. It would appear that not all lorries are inspected, but a random selection.

From June 2015:
// Mr Vine predicted similar incidents would only become more common as the Border Force found itself increasingly unable to cope with the influx of migrants being smuggled across from the Continent by human traffickers.
More than 40,000 suspected illegal migrants were stopped at UK ports and border crossings in the year to April.
Mr Vine said it was not enough to rely on spot checks of the hundreds of vehicles passing through Britain’s ports each day, but that at the same the Border Force was losing experienced staff able to spot those lorries which might contain illegal migrants. //

If we want to stop these incursions we will have to put sufficient manpower on the job, but the Government are not prepaed to do that.

[Gromit]

AOG,
1. The cost of a soldier is far greater than the cost of a civilian guard. Just put more civilian guards on the job.

2. The armed forces have a very specific job, and opening thousands of lorries everyday is not good use of their time.

[mushroom25]

either people who cross our borders without the necessary documentation are illegal, or they're not.

if they are not illegal, why on earth is the government wasting millions patrolling an unecessary border?

[jackthehat]

No troops but definitely more border guards need to be employed.

And we need to ignore Nils Muiznieks.

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

/// 1. The cost of a soldier is far greater than the cost of a civilian guard. Just put more civilian guards on the job. ///

The soldiers are already paid via the defence budget.

Employing more border guards would be an additional cost.

/// 2. The armed forces have a very specific job, and opening thousands of lorries everyday is not good use of their time. ///

Our armed forces are employed in a variety of jobs, flood emergencies, fire fighting etc etc.

This present border situation is yet another emergency, so who better than the armed forces?

[Islay]

Do you think our troops are just sitting around doing nothing anotheroldgit?

They will have their work details planned out and already bid for.

Quite simply we need more border officials.

[Gromit]

It is splitting hairs I know, but entering the country without a valid passport and documentation is an illegal act. But that does not necessarily mean the people are illegal, it depends who they are, and where they are from.

A Chinese person is likely to be an economic migrant and illegal. Someone from Syria could be a refugee and have certain right of asylum, and therefore not illegal

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

/// A Chinese person is likely to be an economic migrant and illegal. Someone from Syria could be a refugee and have certain right of asylum, and therefore not illegal. ///

Refugee from Syria or not, smuggling one's self into a country without proper documentation is an illegal act.

They should apply for asylum in the first safe country they arrive in, and England would not be the first by any stretch of the imagination.

[anotheoldgit]

Islay

/// They will have their work details planned out and already bid for. ///

And are they not deployed almost at a minutes notice to attend all types of emergencies, why do you seem so frightened to call on the troops?

[Peter Pedant]

and the job the border guards cant do - - is what ?

call them names or call the commissioner names ?

a nice mid week non sequitur from AOG to brigthen a damp morning

[anotheoldgit]

Come to think of it a few Border Terriers may be the answer?

[Islay]

What a stupid comment anotheroldgit! Where did I say I was frightened?

We do not need to 'deploy' the troops this is not an emergency!

[AB Editor]

You might suggest the one calling for guns to be drawn on unwanted cargo is the frightened one.

[mushroom25]

//Someone from Syria could be a refugee and have certain right of asylum, and therefore not illegal //

that's a conundrum. if they're not illegal they should be able to claim asylum as the arrive in the UK. but they can't legally do that because the ferry company won't carry anyone they might end up being saddled with the responsibility of. so they resort to illegal means to enter the country, QED they may not technically be illegal, but they are.

maybe the government needs to set up the asylum-claiming office in Calais?