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Natacha Bouchart tells Boris Johnson to change strategy on migrants crossing the ChannelThe mayor of the French port city of Calais has told Boris Johnson to “calm down” and change strategy in dealing with migrants crossing from France.“I consider Boris Johnson’s pronouncements to be a provocation,” said Natacha Bouchart, mayor of the town that is a main embarkation point for the small, overcrowded migrant boats seeking to cross the Channel this summer. Continue reading...

Home Office says up to 20 people who came to UK on small boats will be sent to mainland EuropeA charter flight to remove asylum seekers who recently arrived in the UK on small boats was due to take off on Wednesday despite last-minute high court actions in the early hours of Wednesday morning and other interventions which have led to at least 19 people not boarding the plane.The Home Office said up to 20 people would be placed on the charter flight destined for France and Germany. The Guardian knows of 19 who either had their removal directions deferred by the Home Office or stayed by the high court a few hours ago, or who believed they would be on the flight but then found out that the Home Office had never set removal directions for them. By Wednesday evening the Home Office had not yet formally confirmed whether the flight took off. Continue reading...

Readers share their views on the UK government’s response to Channel migrant crossingsChris Philp “shares” what he calls “the anger and frustration of the public at the appalling number of crossings” (Refugees tell of brutality as people-smuggling across Channel booms, 7 August). What is appalling is his own rhetoric, which is likely to whip up resentment and dehumanise the people desperately trying to reach the UK. Most are fleeing conflict and persecution; they are coming to claim asylum, which they have a legal right to do. The numbers involved are minuscule when presented as a fraction of our population (0.006%), and lower than the normal number entering the UK in non-Covid times to claim asylum. Continue reading...

Experts offer other options as UK government seeks to reduce numbers crossing in boatsThe government insists the way to reduce the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats is to prevent the vessels from leaving France in the first place or by intercepting the boats and returning those attempting to make a crossing.But humanitarian groups and refugee and asylum experts argue the way to reduce the number of attempted crossings is to offer alternative “safe and legal” routes to the UK to claim asylum. Continue reading...

PM hints at law change to make it easier to deport people who make dangerous voyageBoris Johnson has branded attempts by people to cross the Channel in small boats as a “very bad and stupid and dangerous and criminal thing to do” and hinted at changing the law to make it easier to deport such arrivals.Meanwhile a French politician has warned that the UK’s decision to send in the Royal Navy “won’t change anything”, and a former Home Office official has said he was sceptical of the plans. Continue reading...

French and British ministers prepare to meet after 151 more people came ashore on SaturdayTensions are mounting between the UK and France over migrant crossings in the Channel after the number of people who have reached UK shores in small boats this year surpassed 4,000. Families with young children were among hundreds of people who came ashore near Dover this weekend, including 151 on Saturday, the Home Office confirmed. Continue reading...

Countless young people are being pushed to Europe’s margins by hardline border and migration policiesSee the full Europe’s Dreamers seriesWe don’t know how many undocumented children are living in Europe. We don’t even know how many children are currently locked up in detention because of their own or their parents’ immigration status. While the European Union requires precise data collection in numerous sectors – we know how many dairy cows there are in the EU and the UK, for example – the lack of data and visibility of undocumented children seems a political, rather than a technical, void.Being born in Europe is not enough to prevent a child from becoming undocumented, if they are born to undocumented parents. No European country grants citizenship solely based on birth in the national territory. Others in the ranks of the undocumented moved to Europe as kids and have spent most of their lives here. For them, Europe is home. But policy hasn’t caught up with this reality. Continue reading...

In July, the remains of nearly 250 migrant workers were repatriated to Mexico City. Two grieving families share their stories and lossText and photographs by Alejandra RajalOn Saturday 11 July, a plane arrived in Mexico City with the remains of nearly 250 Mexican migrant workers who had died of Covid-19 in the US. A solemn ceremony was held with the participation of the consul general for New York, Jorge Islas López, who had helped organise the repatriation flight. Continue reading...

Sea-Watch 4 is result of crowdfunding and is set to leave from Spain in few daysThe German Protestant church will send a ship to the central Mediterranean to rescue migrants attempting to reach Europe from north Africa.The boat, named Sea-Watch 4, will depart in a few days from the seaport of Burriana, near Valencia, in Spain, where volunteers are finalising preparations, the crew has said. Continue reading...

Rahman arrived as an unaccompanied minor. Abused and deported, his future is uncertain but his European dream intact‘We want to build a life’: Europe’s paperless young people speak outRahman was out buying food when Spanish police handed him a €500 fine for breaking coronavirus restrictions. “I’ll pay this as soon as I get a residence permit,” he told them. He laughs as he recalls the incident. “Look how thin I’ve become, I weigh only 57 kilos,” he says. The 21-year-old Palestinian shows his skinny 5ft 7in frame over the webcam.He speaks in Swedish mixed with Norwegian expressions – his capacity in both languages is testament to the nearly five years spent between the countries as an adolescent. They were formative years, where he learned that even apparently kind gestures such as the offer of a place to stay could open the door to unfathomable cruelty. Continue reading...

Kingdom urged to rethink mass deportation policy as crowded and insanitary conditions spark Covid-19 fears Ibraahin’s* first week of work at a market in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was also his last. As the sun set on the fifth day, the police descended upon the crowds and rounded up the 40-year-old Somali, along with several other undocumented migrant workers. They were transported to the nearby al-Shumaisi detention centre where many, including Ibraahin, remain months later, awaiting deportation.Saudi authorities regularly arrest those found to be working illegally in the kingdom without a visa. Many are held in al-Shumaisi, a huge complex designed to hold 32,000 inmates. It has four grey-walled wings for male inmates, two for females and one for children. Detainees are held in a crowded series of bunk bed-filled halls, which each hold around 80 people. Continue reading...

A British-German study uncovers huge changes in migration patterns of UK citizens since 2016 referendum Brexit has sparked an exodus of economically productive people from the UK to European Union nations on a scale that would normally be expected only as a result of a major economic or political crisis, according to a detailed new study.Using a combination of official statistics across the EU and in-depth interviews with people living in Germany, the study found huge changes in migration patterns of UK citizens since the 2016 referendum, which contrast with largely stable ones among nationals from the 27 EU states remaining in the bloc. Continue reading...

Patients on island camps face long wait for specialist help and mental health services, while in Athens others are left destituteIn a fresh blow to refugees and migrants experiencing dire conditions in Greece, frontline medical charity Médecins San Frontières (MSF) on Thursday announced it has been forced to closed its Covid-19 isolation centre on Lesbos after authorities imposed fines and potential charges.From the island of Lesbos to the Greek capital of Athens, asylum seekers and recognised refugees, some with serious medical conditions, are unable to access healthcare or see a doctor as treatments are disrupted by new regulations. Continue reading...

Ex-minister faces kidnapping charges for preventing docking of migrant rescue shipsThe Italian senate has voted to lift Matteo Salvini’s immunity from prosecution, clearing the way for possible charges against the far-right former interior minister for refusing to allow 164 migrants to get off a ship in Sicily.The case, from last August, is the third involving a rescue ship standoff in which Italian prosecutors have sought kidnapping charges against Salvini. Continue reading...

For most Australians, two events of biblical solemnity will define this year: fire and plague. How should we respond?This is part of a series of essays by Australian writers responding to the challenges of 2020As soon as my partner and I completed two weeks’ quarantine after returning from Europe in late March, I went around to visit my mother. We had talked on the phone every day throughout the lockdown, and twice during our quarantine she had defied the warnings against elderly citizens leaving their homes to drive to our place and deliver food parcels.There are images of the pandemic that will forever be part of our cultural memory: the long lines at Centrelink after thousands of Australians lost their jobs; the furious scrambling for goods in the supermarkets; and the desperate faces at the windows of those poor souls in Melbourne’s public estate towers who were sent into cruel and immediate detention when the city lurched haphazardly into a second lockdown. Continue reading...

Home secretary Priti Patel says BNO visa changes were ‘proportionate response’ to China’s increasing control over the cityThe British government has outlined its pathway to citizenship for millions of overseas nationals in Hong Kong wanting to flee growing control exerted by Beijing over in the semi-autonomous city.The changes allow holders of British National (Overseas) status (BNO) and their immediate families to apply for entry visas from January 2021, for either two periods of 30 months or a single period of five years. Continue reading...

Survivors of dangerous sea journey convicted amid a rise in hate speech and mass detentions in centres rife with Covid-19Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageA group of Rohingya refugees who survived a treacherous journey at sea now face caning and seven months in jail after they were convicted under the immigration act in Malaysia, where activists have warned of an alarming rise in xenophobia and inhumane treatment of the migrants.Hundreds of arrests and a sharp rise in hate speech have shocked refugees and migrants who had seen Malaysia as a welcoming country, particularly for Muslims, despite not being signed up to the 1951 refugee convention. Continue reading...

Migration ministry ‘concerned Turkey may use migrants as instrument to exert pressure’Greece is stepping up preparations for a possible increase in migrants and refugees reaching the Aegean islands from Turkey, as police arrested six alleged people smugglers at the weekend.The ability of traffickers to circumvent the vast flotilla of naval ships and coastguard patrols conducting border surveillance in the area has reinforced fears of a surge in migrants arriving at a time of dangerously deteriorating ties between the two countries. Continue reading...