Kayaking asylum seeker found stranded on the Ecréhous
Wednesday 27th July 2011, 3:53PM BST.
The illegal immigrant was found on the Ecréhous
AN illegal immigrant was in custody today after he was caught trying to flee to Jersey on an inflatable kayak.
The 26-year-old, who claims to be from South Africa, was found stranded on the Ecréhous reef off the north-east coast as he desperately tried to paddle to the Island. The JEP understands that the man left Carteret, on the Normandy coast, alone earlier yesterday to seek asylum in Jersey.
A major search and rescue operation, involving the St Catherine lifeboat and the Channel Islands Air Search plane, was launched yesterday afternoon after the Carteret Coastguard, who had been monitoring the man, noticed he had paddled several miles out to sea.
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You think this is bad, who is keeping a check on the ribs that are landing on the slipways with six to eight people on board coming from france, friends of mine were gob smacked as they watched them get off and jump into a car with the driver waiting with the engine running. Who were they, we probably will never know. From there accents they wern’t French
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Sorry no room. Island is full. Put him back in his Kayak and send him back to france.
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Are we sure he wasn’t LEAVING Jersey on the way to France!
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So the French watch him until he was out of French waters and then decided to take action….errrm?
Sounds like lets push the problem to the UK / Jersey. More will be on the way then! Maybe they heard about extra jobs due to Sunday opening.
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Legalised spongers, commonly known as Asylum Seekers, are the bane of Western Europe.
Asylum Seekers are meant to take refuge in the nearest safe country, so what is he doing kayaking from France? Why hasn’t he claimed asylum there?
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Will he now be called an “islander” just because he has set foot on Jersey soil for five minutes? Surely he is “now the same” as someone who was born here? Isn’t that the case these days?
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Usual bigotted ignorant remarks from the worldly Jersey folks then. Why is it that you think someone who’s willing to risk their life in persuit of a better one is going to just sit about and sponge. Makes no sense and is not based on reality. Immigration drives and diversifies economies as well as populations!
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Fair play to him.
If any of you know the situation in SA right now then you’d understand he’d probably qualify as a legitimate asylum seeker (especially if he is a caucasian South African)…..not like some of these spongers we see coming from various parts of (safe) Europe who claim asylum just to get on the benefits gravy train!
Perhaps he chose Jersey/UK as the closest “english speaking” safe haven considering he probably speaks english as his first language…..it is only common sense!
1 James
That is quite disturbing, especially when considering global terrorism and recent events in Norway. This island really ought to protect it’s borders a bit better!
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Can we blame him trying to paddle from France in a kayak it’s a lot cheaper than Condor.I wonder if there is a kayak big enough to carry a car?
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James, post 1.
Yes I agree, could not believe my eyes yesterday when a rib full of people appeared out of nowhere (it looked like that) speeding into St Caths and jumping off, bang into a car and gone. They came from a direction out to sea where there was no larger vessels. The rib was very small so not liek the commercial ones used to zoom tourists about or pop to Carteret.
Strange goings on indeed. Customs and Immigration are more than likely tied up with GST paperwork.
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@ 1 James………I can well believe this. You only need to walk through town to see how the ethnic make up of the Island’s population is rapidly changing!
A possible way to address this sitation is – before these new Social Security cards are issued – non local /qualified applicants should be asked to complete a thorough assessment process that will ascertain in whats ways applicants will benefit the Islands and its economy.
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Ahh, so that’s where that train load of Asylum Seekers went to after Italy off loaded them onto France.
One hopes that our local authorities take good care of this person, afterall, we are all God’s creatures.
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11 Qwerty
There is an easier way…. ask for a passport!
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#7 The island is already overrun with people from all corners of the globe. One more is one too many!!
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@11 Qwerty
No doubt you can trace your heritage back to the day the seas receded and Jersey became an Island?
Alternatively maybe you have a ‘date’ on which immigration started?
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By the way,apart from the issue of an asylum seeker in an inflatable kayak, it’s not Ecréhous but Ecrehou, a Norse and not a French name;some say derived from Skerholme,(Eskerhou) meaning rocky islet.The English acre is also derived from esker and hou a mound or burial place, which was indeed found beneath the later medieval chapel there.Hence the famous Sutton Hou and Jersey’s Hougue Bie as burial mounds and the other small islets of Brechou, Lihou and Jethou as part of an important Norse Viking heritage.It’s wrong to add the plural and accents, even if the JEP and most if not all other media articles have passed the incorrect plural into ersatz franglicised convention in recent times.Even the French and British Admiralty charts, the BBC and French tide and weather forecasts officially call it Les Ecrehou and they should know!Somehow we in Jersey cannot understand that altering age old place names,diminishes our heritage for future generations.
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#5 Beaumont, you know the answer to that. France and Germany are notorious for turning a blind eye to their international obligations and shuffling asylum seekers across to Britain. Allegedly they’re not even that discreet about ignoring asylum seekers as long as they are heading North through the tunnel rather than South.
It beggars belief, the UK is an island and none of the countries nearest to it will have people leaving them to seek asylum elsewhere, does make you wonder how the UK ends up with more than its fair share of asylum seekers.
Still, genuine asylum seekers are one issue, illegal immigrants are a much bigger problem.
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Great comment from Beaumont #9, Legalised spongers.
I dont think so, we have enough home grown spongers claiming benefits crying out no jobs. More like dont want to work, currently there are over 135 vacancies on Gov.je. jobs, why is this?
Because a lot of the lazy unemployed are happy to take hand outs.
Yankeedoodle #7 totally agree we need immigration to keep the economy growing.
Qwerty #11 thankfully we have always had an ethnic mix, otherwise I doubt you would ever get served a meal, a drink or in most shops. Bring them over and wake the idlers up.
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If he’d used a half decent carbon kevlar or just plain GRP sea kayak he would have made it in a few hours, if he got the wind and tide right. Perhaps there was a northeaster blowing for him to get as far as the Ecréhous in a blow-up boat.
Probably simpler, though, to scrape together the cash for a ride in a RIB.
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Let him in!! he’ll probs get a three bed-room house?!
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At least he doesn’t have to worry about locals telling him there’s a boat in the morning…..he’s got his own!
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21, What a great post! Pity more people from england and elsewhere don’t bring their own transport back to whence they came!
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I wonder if he’ll get a j category? Everyone else who steps off of a boat seems to (to the detriment of the local workforce) so why should he be any different?
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What makes me laugh is that any foreigner can walk straight into Social and be given an employment card there and then! How an overpopulated island of 45 square miles cannot have a firm immigration policy is laughable, and dangerous. While knowing I will be called a racist, there is every chance that guy has already put someone out of a job, because he was willing to work for less. It is time to shut the borders, and have visa entry only.
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If anyone doubts this happens, stand in the queue in Social for 5 minutes, it all become apparent. They even give them directions to CLM house to register for tax. I wonder how many make it that far. As for customs and immigration, we should have massive concerns. My wife came back from the UK on Sunday, and she was amazed that the van she was driving wasn’t checked for either contraband or illegal immigrants. In fact, there weren’t any Customs officers watching the vehicles disembark. Great to se them doing a fantastic job! It’s time to merge Police with Customs, we would get more milage out of a joined effort.
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George I don’t think you’re a racist, if we had in place an effective immigration policy that ensured only those benefitting the island were able to gain entry we’d all be better off.
Everyone would have equal rights, you wouldn’t have people complaining about discrimination because there wouldn’t be any. Anyone with a criminal record wouldn’t get in.
We’d simply cherry pick the people we need and have a virtually crime free island with full employment.
Now the hard part, how would we police it, how about reinstate the police checkpoint at the airport and harbour,no one gets in without a visa/work permit – call it what you will. That stops 99% dead, add a coastal patrol with radar and you’ve pretty much eliminated the problem – now whay don’t the states want that?
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@ 26…….I could not agree more.
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26 Mulvie, totally agree why is this not implemented, is there some undisclosed reason why they don’t do this, seems simple enough to me.
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Cannot imagine what type of hell he left behind when all he has to look forward to here is £7 per hr. max. and accomodation one would hesitate to put a dog in.
Hope he does not do his shopping in “Spar”
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Australia has strict immigration and look at the size of the place. We are 9 miles by 6 and we have nothing- a free for all for anyone who steps off the boat.
To add insult to injury, the media tags us all “islanders” whether we were born here or whether we just drove off the boat crammed into the now notorious large white minibus which shuttles backwards and forwards and is only empty on the outward journey. It’s absolutely bonkers but the Ozoufs of this world do nothing because it doesn’t directly affect them.
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Perhaps we should stop locals buying Thai brides too.
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“That is quite disturbing, especially when considering global terrorism and recent events in Norway. This island really ought to protect it’s borders a bit better!”
Protect borders better?! OH PLEASE, the man was on a frickin kayack, you would have to have loads of boat patrols 24/7 to interogate any miniscule craft that comes near the island! Don’t be ridiculous.
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Ben
You idiot…think before posting!
That comment was directed at James’ witness to watching several people (illegals?) get off a boat and speed away in a car.
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One point. The 1956 Hague International Court judgement was flawed in its legal detail.Les Minquiers and Les Ecrehou were embodied in law in that ruling,wrongly, as part of the British Isles,which Jersey as a Crown Dependency is not part.This has been forgotten; hut owners pay parish rates and the parish of St. Martin have to hold an assembly once a year at Les Ecrehou,usually with a lobster lunch, as a condition of that ruling.Yet this is probably the first time in 54 years that a so called asylum seeker, landing in an inflatable kayak, has now raised the question of the detail of that judgement.
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@34 What are you talking about? Jersey is part of the British Isles. it is not part of the United Kingdom.
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The immigration and customs department have so far stopped 15 illegal immigrants in the first 7 months of this year.. and they are lauding this as a success.
I know they have caught a tiny fraction of the actual numbers. I have seen the Ribs and other boats come speeding into north coast bays and St Catherines, people jump off them clutching suitcases or plastic bags into a van and then drive off. One day in bonne nuit Two boat loads arrived within an hour.. 8 people per boat – thats 16!
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#25 George
I realise it happens, but nonetheless, I was still shocked that your wife drove a van off the ferry and nobody was there to check it.
I’d like the States to respond to such comments, and explain why our borders are policed in such ways. Totally acceptable, not just from an immigration point of view, but also from a terrorist angle
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Me and my girlfriend took my car over to the UK and not once was our passports checked, all they asked for was our boarding cards. I think I may have found how people are getting in so easy!
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‘Me and my girlfriend took my car over to the UK and not once was our passports checked, all they asked for was our boarding cards.’
Wow, the excitement of travelling away from Jersey!
How galling not being asked to show a passport (not needed, yet, for visiting the mother country). Which part were you hoping they would look at, the clause saying “Unemployable in the EU due to uninterrupted jersey lineage” or the mouthwatering holiday destination you recently visited?
Don’t be naive and believe that behind the scenes number plate/name checks don’t go on and probably have a big bearing on which cars and passengers get stopped (or otherwise, in the case of George’s wife). They’ve got the length of the journey to delve deeper, with the suspect contained on the vessel, if needed.
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James Wiley @34
Thank you for your valid correction.I wrote in haste and was wrong although the substance of that judgement remains open to debate.The point should have been that the judgement was initially requested on 5 December 1951, the ICJ decided on 17 November 1953 that sovereignty over the islands belonged to the United Kingdom ,of which Jersey is not part.You can find a summary of the judgement by googling “minquiers and ecrehos case”. This should give you a link to the relevant International Court of Justice summary.This states in the first paragraph that “The Minquiers and Ecrehos case was submitted to the Court by virtue of a Special Agreement concluded between the United Kingdom and France on December 29th, 1950. In a unanimous decision, the Court found that sovereignty over the islets and rocks of the Ecrehos and the Minquiers groups, in so far as these islets and rocks are capable of appropriation, belongs to the United Kingdom”.
Jersey is not part of the United Kingdom.That should have been my point. Apologies…
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#40 ‘You can find a summary of the judgement by googling “minquiers and ecrehos case”’
Will I be able to find documentary evidence that an annual assembly with a lobster lunch was obligated by the Hague judgement?
Sounds to me more like a beano thought up by yachtsmen*, although I will happily stand corrected.
*Rather like going to visit Alphonse at Christmas time.
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I heard that Tourism has added him to their stats as an incoming visitor!
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#39 C Le Verdic
How do they know who is behind the wheel, do they know you personally and think oh look there is Andy driving back from the UK just let him in dont check the car for anything because its Andy I know him, the only Naive one here is you my boy
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Such racist views of the island are worrying.
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Ben what happened in Norway could easily happen anywhere else. Norway was the last place I would have expected this sort of thing to happen as they are so liberal in their outlook.
I expect to see more right wing extremism all across Europe over the coming years as a direct result of mass immigration. Just wait until the EU enlarges more and then the figures will make what is happening now look miniscule.
The west needs to help third world countries out of poverty to encourage their citizens to stay put and not want to move away en mass or else they will end in in the likes of the UK which will not be able to cope then law and order will break down.
Vote Quint wouldn’t surprise me if the figures are much higher than reported.
CLV how many checks do you think are made at any of the bays around Jersey? I have never seen a customs presence at say Le Hocq or Fliquet have you?
I saw a French reg boat run up on the beach by the life boat station three summers ago. There was no sign of its occupants. Maybe it just drifted over from France on the high tide?
The French aren’t stupid they know they can’t stem the tide so it is better to let the flow go elsewhere like the UK which most will want to come to anyway as free accommodation and welfare can often be obtained.
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45, Adrian ‘CLV how many checks do you think are made at any of the bays around Jersey? I have never seen a customs presence at say Le Hocq or Fliquet have you?’
That’s for them to know, Adrian, and us to speculate. A good covert operation doesn’t show out.
Maybe there is a need for a new question in the next census: How did you get to Jersey?
a. Aeroplane
b. Ferry
C. RIB
d. Kayak
e. Lilo
f. Swam
g. Any combination of f. plus the previous five options
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Many thanks to all who have posted here. Thoroughly entertaining together with some thought provoking comments. Well that’s another lunch break over – now thinking of our beautiful bays and beaches while couped up in an office with no windows and no air-con. Tempted to offer to buy his inflatable kayak and make my own bid for freedom.
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@42 Juan Juan Kay – I wonder how he found out about Jersey? Maybe we should do a survey:
Q. How did you find out that Jersey is a haven for illegal immigrants with easy access to the UK?
a. A family member told me
b. A friend told me.
c. it was advertised by online media reporting
d. Google
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CLV how much time do you think customs have for the above now that they also have to police GST on items coming into Jersey?
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If this is the case, and people are arriving in small RIBs, it´s only a matter of time before one gets caught out by the weather and requires rescuing, or bodies are simply washed up. Then something will happen.
C Le Verdic, agreed, if the operators of these small boats have people awaiting their arrival and a few uniformed customs officers are hanging around their intended disembarkation point, they´ll just divert to another bay.
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we could employ the french who have torpedo capabilities…..”Bridge to crew,Fish away,,,dive dive…!
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In the last few months about 30,000 illegal immigrants from Tunisia and Libya have sailed over to the tiny island of Lampedusa, near Sicily.
The 5,000 residents of Lampedusa rely on fishing and tourism. The fish are still plentiful but tourism is dead and the majority of locals have lost their livelihoods…I mean, who wants to go to a paradise island full of desperate people who, when angry, trash the place and steal everything they can find.
In such situations, governments must realize that the world is not a fair place and that the interests and needs of one nation (their own) often conflict with the interests and needs of another.
So, before bending immigration rules and thus making Jersey super attractive to non-EU illegal immigrants, the island’s politicians should ponder over the famous flight rule: “fit your own oxygen mask before helping the passenger in the next seat”. Because, if you don’t, both of you will become unconscious for a short time…and then dead for eternity!
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@52…….spot on!
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Attn: Only Thought.
I am not married to a Thai Bride but I know someone who is and his missus works hard because she appreciates the effort it took to get here and what the island offers a hard working person. On the other hand we have other fold from european countries who know that once here they can take the proverbial monkey. So who would you prefer, a person who is not willing to work and knows the system or someone who is willing to work and hasn’t figured out how to sponge it? I would hope you go for the latter.
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jj,
Personally I wouldn’t marry anyone, be it from the Far East, Eastern Europe or anywhere else, who speaks a language I don’t understand and can plot my downfall with their relatives, using my telephone or even under my roof.
First class mug’s game!
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