Illegal Channel Migrants Should Be Sent to South Atlantic Island: UK Think Tank

Illegal immigrants react onboard UK Border Force vessel HMC Speedwell after being picked up at sea, as they are brought into the Marina in Dover, southeast England, on Dec. 21, 2021. Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images

Illegal immigrants who attempt to enter the UK by crossing the English Channel in small boats should be deported to an offshore processing centre within 48 hours, a British Conservative think tank has proposed.

In its latest report (pdf) published on Feb. 16, the London-based Policy Exchange think tank said the “most obviously suitable” location for such processing centres is Ascension Island, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean that is 4,000 miles away from the UK.

Other proposed locations include Alderney in the Channel Islands and Britain’s Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus.

Last year, 28,381 illegal immigrants arrived in the UK by crossing the Channel in small boats, more than tripling the number of arrivals of the previous year.

The think tank said “the most appropriate way” to reduce illegal Channel crossings is what it calls “Plan A,” under which authorised British vessels intercept the boats at sea and escort them back to a port in France, Belgium, or other states where the illegal immigrants embarked.

But if France continues to reject “Plan A,” the report said, a “new Plan B” must be implemented to process the illegal immigrants overseas.

Under the proposed plan, the illegal immigrants would be deported from UK territorial waters within 48 hours to an overseas British territory, where their claims to refugee status could be assessed.

Economic migrants would be returned to their home country, or to some other state willing to receive them. And genuine refugees would be resettled in a safe state other than the UK.

Under the plan, no person entering, or attempting to enter, the UK on a small boat from a safe country would be allowed to settle in the UK, even if a genuine refugee.

Currently, people arriving in the UK illegally in small boats know that getting to the UK and claiming asylum secures them access to UK accommodation and services, regardless of the merits of their claim.

But the report said, both Plan A and Plan B would send a strong message to potential illegal immigrants: “No one, even a genuine refugee, who chooses to arrive or attempt to arrive unlawfully in the UK by small boat from a safe country like France will ever be granted a right to settle in the UK.”

The report said Ascension Island is the best location because the 34 square mile island has no indigenous or permanent population, and its climate is “extremely stable and favourable.”