IMMIGRATION OFFICERS IN TROUBLE AFTER HOME OFFICE ORDERS FINGERPRINTING OF MIGRANTS
United Kingdom immigration officers in Calais have notified they will face aggression after the United Kingdom Government informed them to fingerprint migrants who try to enter the United Kingdom illegally.
Priti Patel, the United Kingdom Home Secretary has commanded the immigration officers to fingerprint any migrants noticed attempting to slip on board Eurotunnel trains in an effort to arrive in to the United Kingdom unlawfully.
The order from the Home Secretary originates during record spikes in migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, in spite of the current Covid-19 pandemic.
But there are worries this new policy will lead to physical assaults and injuries.
Lucy Moreton, of the ISU (The Union for Borders, Immigration and Customs), a union which act for frontline officers, stated the measures would initiate hostility as migrants try to dodge being registered in France.
She further stated that: “That is quite a task, mainly if they really don’t want to have their fingerprints taken.
“We only have wet ink and we don’t have digital fingerprint recorders. So you have factually got to hold their hands and roll their fingers from side to side to get a print.
The United Kingdom Home Office mentioned recording fingerprints may help in sending migrants to France if they later make an effective effort of crossing into the United Kingdom.
Finger printing of Migrants were done by UK Border Force officers at the port in Calais, but it was stopped in 2010 and the procedure was also later abandoned at the Euro tunnel in Coquelles.
Ms Moreton also said: “All it caused was a lot of physical violence and individuals – both our staff and migrants being hurt.
“And migrants purposely hurting themselves in order to wound their fingertips so that their fingerprints can’t be taken.
“That’s not something that anyone wants to be compelled to do.”
Since the lockdown initiated in March, more than 1,000 migrants have supposedly crossed the United Kingdom border on small boats.
During one day last week, over 150 migrants crossed the UK border by small boat – a record for the number coming in a single day.
The total migrants crossing the UK border for this year is already projected to have surpassed the number who reached the United Kingdom in the whole of 2019, regardless of a guarantee made last September by Ms Patel to make small boat crossings an “infrequent phenomenon by spring 2020”.
The United Kingdom Home Office stated that people escaping persecution should remain in the first safe country they enter and there is “no purpose why they need to make a repeatedly unsafe trip” to claim asylum.
Furthermore the UK Border Force has tough risk assessments in place to reduce the risk of harm to both migrants and Immigration officers.
What do you think about this measure taken by the Home Office? Will it work? Comment below and share your thoughts.
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