On Tuesday 24 November, at least 27 people drowned in the icy waters of the English Channel trying to cross the borders. Kanlungan stands in solidarity with the families and friends of those who died.
We are outraged by the way the British and French governments have been keen to blame “gangsters” and “people smugglers”, finger-pointing to each other to deflect guilt and responsibility. But it is immigration enforcement and borders that kill. The UK’s immigration system is so broken that risking one’s life on a cramped boat to cross the Channel is more feasible as an option than filing an asylum claim. This is the Government’s intention: more complicated applications, longer processing times, eye-watering fees, and minimal support for migrants and make life difficult for them to access basic services.
But it’s not just in the Channel and Mediterranean that people are dying. In 2019, 39 people froze to death in a lorry in Essex. Hundreds of people have died in detention centres across the UK. Hundreds of undocumented migrants have died of COVID-19 because they were too scared of seeking medical treatment and being reported to immigration enforcement.
The Conservative Government has seeded the idea that people coming to the UK are here to profit off of the welfare state. This is a blatant lie. Migrants, by law, have no recourse to public funds. It is illegal for migrants to receive benefits in this country. A migrant who is a survivor of domestic abuse will be turned away from a refuge. A child of a migrant without adequate paperwork may be refused a free school meal even if he needs it. Refugees, if granted status in the UK, receive a meager £39.63 per week. But people do not risk their lives for £39.63 per week; they have been driven away from their home countries to escape persecution, war, and poverty.
Immigration enforcement kills. Borders kill.
Today we grieve for the people who died in the Channel and the thousands of others who have died because of the Government’s hostile immigration policy. Today, more than ever, the need to reckon with the way our Government creates policies for migrants, asylum seekers, and the undocumented is a must—we must scrap racist linings and closed borders policies!
As a signatory to two landmark universal declarations relating to human rights and the rights of refugees, the UK should be a welcoming society, with an obligation to protect refugees, migrants, asylum seekers, displaced persons, victims of human trafficking—providing and assuring safe routes for the vulnerable.
Kanlungan joins the solidarity call, “Don’t Let Them Drown – Refugees Welcome!”. We demand accountability from the British Government. As long as its racist refugee policy continues, it will remain an enabler of this kind of ghastly tragedy. On Saturday, 27 November, we will march with other migrant organisations to voice our discontent. Government cruelty will always be met by migrant solidarity.