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Hello there and welcome to this week's Migration Monitor
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Well, I've decided to take you to the epicentre of the Channel Migrant Crisis, right here in Dover
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All those crossing the English Channel illegally, once they're picked up by Border Force, or
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indeed lifeboats, are taken to this Kent port. Now, just down there, in an area known as the Western Jetfoil, Border Force has a makeshift
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migrant processing centre. As you can see it's just a collection of prefab buildings and tents, an area where migrants
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are checked over before being taken to the main processing centre further down the road
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at Manston. Now I know this whole issue of British border vessels and lifeboats picking these migrants
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up and taking them here has many of you understandably very exercised
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You see it as little more than an official taxi service. So while these migrant boats keep crossing, authorities here say they'll continue to pick them up
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as it's too dangerous to leave them in the middle of the Channel. But the most infuriating aspect, understandably, is that first with the Conservatives and now under Labour
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no one appears to be able to grip this crisis. Under Sir Keir Stammer, it's repeated announcements, constant initiatives
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which seem to be making no real difference. First it was smash the criminal gangs. But a year and four months later we're told that
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any law enforcement activity won't bring quick results. They're now banging the drum for
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more international partnerships The France returns deal though has so far only seen a few dozen migrants sent back over the channel And now even this policy faces some uncertainty with human rights groups and activists currently fighting it in the French courts
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And remember the pushback policy we heard so much about. It would allow French police to push migrant boats that are in shallow waters back onto the French beaches
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But many months down the line there's no sign of this new tactic
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French police unions are urging officers not to implement the tactic for fear that they'll be blamed should something go wrong
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And so as we've spoken about so often on Migration Monitor the only thing seriously impacting the crossings is the weather
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Again this week it's been a bit too blowy out there in the channel
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for those migrant boats to attempt the crossing. It is though a small and only short-lived reprieve for the government
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The migrants and their boats are stacking up again, preparing to cross the Channel
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And we are now only a few hundred away from surpassing the total number of Channel migrants
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who made the illegal crossing over the whole of last year. And when we pass that figure of 36,816
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it will be a massive setback for Sir Keir Starmer's policies to combat this crisis
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He'll no doubt tell us more patience is required, that there are no quick fixes
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But just like the Conservatives before them, the longer Labour fails to deal with this crisis
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the more their support will ebb away
