THE only reason refugees are in Calais is because ferry companies and airlines (and individuals) face heavy fines for carrying passages without passports or travel documents.
So people from Syria, Eritrea and other war-torn areas sit frustrated in tents in France.
They have a legal right to claim asylum here without papers – they just can’t reach us. The answer is simple. If the UK Government could just do a temporary commercial waiver for ferries at Calais the refugees could come here and claim asylum openly at our border in Dover or Folkestone. That has to be cheaper, more humane and in the end more orderly than the present chaos.
It would also cost the refugees less than the vast sums they pay to traffickers. Some would be let in (as is their right) to contribute to our communities and create wealth – some, under present rules, would be sent back, having had a fair hearing.
Surely it’s a no-brainer?
It would cost the taxpayer less (currently millions are going to increase security fences at Calais), it would stop the untidy and desperate stream of people who come in under lorries and disappear, it would help the lorry companies and the ferry companies. And it would show our collective humanity.
LIZ PERETZ
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford
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