UKIP Councillor: Illegal Immigration in Folkestone

Cllr Terry Mullard • 14 October 2020

UKIP Folkestone & Hythe District Cllr speaks out on conversion of Napier Barracks into illegal migrant accommodation. 

As one of the two UKIP Folkestone & Hythe District Cllrs representing Romney Marsh Ward, my views on the use of Napier Barracks in Folkestone are very clear cut. Put simply, any person attempting to enter the UK without a passport is attempting to enter illegally. If they do then manage to enter the UK, they are de-facto illegal migrants.

Many people, particularly the 'refugee support groups' and the 'let them all in' brigades, will refer to these migrants as 'Asylum seekers' or 'Refugees. I would like to hear from these groups their definition of 'illegals'.

Napier Barracks will house 400 migrants, all single males. They will enjoy full board accommodation with three meals per day, education and games facilities, free mobile phones, freedom to come and go as they wish - provided they are in the Barracks overnight - although what is meant by 'overnight' is unclear.

The Barracks is meant to be used for one year only, although as migrants are dispersed into the country, thus creating space, that space will clearly be filled by new arrivals. So in a year's time there will still be 400 migrants there who we will not be able to rehouse easily. Hence Napier Barracks will be used as a holding and assessment facility for much longer than one year!

The decision to house migrants in Napier Barracks was taken by the Home Office without any notification or discussion with the local MP or the District Council, both of whom were seething at this lack of communication. The Home Office claims that the decision was urgent and too rapid to consult. That is a plain lie, as the Home office would have had to have lengthy negotiations with the MoD regarding use and cost of the Barracks.

Local people are not happy to have 400 young males dumped on them. The risk of trouble cannot be ignored.

As for French cooperation in attempting to prevent migrants crossing the Channel, and the huge payments made to the French Government by the UK Government, that is farcical when we see the French warship 'Aramis' escorting a rubber boat with 16 migrants in it towards UK waters. The warship ordered the ferry 'Pride of Kent' to change course to avoid the warship and migrant boat.

Not only that, but the warship ordered all channel vessels to keep a distance of one nautical mile from them. Once near UK waters the warship left the migrant boat to be collected by an approaching Border Force cutter to escort to Dover.

The UK is far too weak regarding illegal migrants who should have been granted asylum in France or Germany or another EU country on entry there. Let's hope that we will see sense on 1st January 2021.


Thumbnail photo by Avery Evans on Unsplash

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