Afran – not his real name – hit the headlines when he became the first asylum seeker to return to the UK in a small boat after being removed to France under the controversial “one in, one out” scheme on 19 September. He was sent back to Paris for the second time on 5 November.
“France, UK, France, UK, France – it’s not my choice,” he says. “I went to UK twice because I felt I had no other option. The smugglers in northern France attacked me and threatened my life before I crossed to the UK for the first time on August 6. When the Home Office returned me here the first time I believed the smugglers were still searching for me.
And rather than risk your life trying to cross the English channel in a small boat, you didn't think to go elsewhere in Europe by land? I womnder why?
Afran is sitting with three other recent returnees from the UK, including the first woman removed under the scheme. Soon after they speak, the policy will be followed by draconian measures that the government says will deter asylum seekers from crossing the Channel in small boats. But the group’s stories – of danger, dislocation and a lack of protection even after removal – are a stark illustration of how those theories of deterrence can collide with the desperate logic of survival.
No, sorry, 'survival' is not the issue here or they would not choose the small boat route, which is insanely risky. They are determined to get to the UK and the UK only.
Afran pushes fish fingers aimlessly around his plate and sips tea. The group, thrown together by circumstances, wear a jumble of donated tracksuits and lack weatherproof shoes and warm coats. All of them in turn laugh hysterically and weep at the hopelessness of their situation. “I know the security now in the detention centre I’ve been locked up in twice,” Afran says. “I told them I’ll be back for Christmas.” He laughs hollowly and then starts to cry.
Reader, he probablt will...
On the other side of the Channel, another man, an Eritrean, is awaiting his fate in a detention centre. He was the second to return to the UK after being forcibly removed to France.
And he too has not been deterred, he too is still fixated on the UK to the exclusion of anything else.
He says he came back to the UK again because he felt unsafe in France. After getting medical help for several conditions from a charity in Paris, he returned to his shelter late and was refused entry because the gates were already locked. ”I called my family and told them about the bad things that had happened to me. They arranged for me to return to the UK in a small boat because they understood that France was not safe for me.”
What about Holland? Belgium? Denmark?
He adds: “I have suffered a lot and am terrified of being forced back to France. If the security at the Paris shelter had allowed me back inside when I returned from the medical appointment I would not have been attacked on that night – it was 23 October – and I would still be in France now. Because of the bad experience I had I no longer believe France can protect me.”
Documents seen by the Guardian, written before he was removed to France, show that a detention centre doctor judged his account – that he had been trafficked and tortured in Libya after fleeing Eritrea and before first reaching the UK – to be “consistent with torture”.
Lochlinn Parker, the acting director of the charity Detention Action, says...
Who cares? He's not exactly impartial, is he? He's making a nice living off this. Being one of the employees in its £608k staffing costs.
The three male asylum seekers around the table in the Paris cafe are protective of the woman who is with them. “Why did they send a woman back to France? This is really bad,” Afran says. “Even the security staff in the UK were shocked the Home Office was sending me back to France,” the woman says.
Yes, concern for females. This is believeable.
“Before I came to the UK my mental health was normal. Now it is not. I do not know where I can go or what I can do to be safe. The Home Office is no good for humans. They have broken me. They have finished my life.”
They are still pretty good for this human, despite everything else, if they are keeping people like you out of my country.
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