Calais Migrant Crisis: Illegal Immigrants to UK Face Eviction without Court Order under New Plans

• 08.03.2015, 17:23
•  Europe,  World

Rival protests on the Calais migrant crisis were held on Saturday in the little British port town of Folkestone, with some people welcoming the migrants, while others demonstratինգ against their arrival.

The matter is that after an incident with 2000 migrants storming the Eurotunnel on Thursday night, the British authorities announced their new plan according to which landlords who rent properties to illegal immigrants will face up to five years in prison.

As the British Independent reports, the landlords are required to check the residency status of tenants before offering them an agreement. If they fail to do so, they will face a civil penalty of up to £3,000 a night per adult resident.

A criminal offense for landlords and agents, who do not carry out the ''right to rent'' test or remove illegal immigrants will be included in the Immigration Bill which will be debated in Parliament this autumn. A new criminal offense of repeatedly failing to conduct checks or remove tenants with no right to reside in the UK will carry maximum penalties of five years' imprisonment.

''Migrants are being dehumanized. British Prime Minister David Cameron recently referred to them as a ''swarm'' - that’s a word you would use for ants or bees, not for humans. A columnist for The Sun Kathy Hopkins, even compared migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean to cockroaches'' Bridget Chapman, head of the Folkestone United group that organized the pro-migrant protest, France 24 writes.

David Cameron in turn spoke with French President Francois Hollande on Friday night about the situation in Calais and the two governments agreed to work "hand-in-glove" while the home secretary of UK Theresa May, together with her counterpart from France, Bernard Cazeneuve, are sending signals to would-be migrants that they will not necessarily face a warm welcome.

''Ultimately, the long-term answer to this problem lies in reducing the number of migrants who are crossing into Europe from Africa. Many see Europe, and particularly Britain, as somewhere that offers the prospect of financial gain,'' as BBC reports the two in their announcement said.

The move is part of a government initiative to discourage migrants from leaving their countries of origin in the first place by showing that Britain is a cold place for those, whose asylum applications are rejected. May and Cazeneuve also stressed that the UK was not ''a land of milk and honey'' and Britain’s ''streets are not paved with gold''.