Conservative MP Tom Hunt said asylum seekers arriving from Europe were ‘criminals’ who should be ‘processed offshore’
Conservative backbencher Tom Hunt has called for tougher border controls to curb the number of migrants arriving in the UK.
The Tory MP for Ipswich said he owes it to the “millions who voted to leave the European Union to take back control of our borders,” believing the government aren’t currently doing enough to curb the number of arrivals.
Responding to the record 1,185 migrants that arrived on small boats last Thursday, the Tory MP said “this doesn’t look like control.”
Hunt said numbers dramatically reduced in Australia “when they embraced offshore processing”, advocating for detention centres away from mainland that would decide the fate of refugees hoping to resettle in the UK.
On Monday it was reported Border Force guards, who the government are asking to turn refugee boats in the Channel around, are considering applying for a judicial review
Prior to the interview, responding to the news border patrols might refuse to turn away refugee boats in the Channel out of a sense of a morality, the Tory MP told them to do “what you’re paid to do” or “get a job elsewhere.”
Hunt later reiterated the point, saying “they are paid to protect our borders and paid to follow the direction of the elected government of this country. If they’re not comfortable with that they should go and get another job.”
If you’re not interested in doing your job, what you’re paid to do. ie. “Protecting our borders”, maybe get a job elsewhere? https://t.co/ReB0kNrrrt
— Tom Hunt MP (@tomhunt1988) November 15, 2021
So they’re coming over here from a safe European country, they’re knowingly breaking the law of the land. That makes them a criminal.
Human rights lawyers who might try to protect these migrants “need to be taken on and challenged.”
The Tory MP, who believes immigration is one of the top issues in the country right now, told TalkRadio: “I don’t even think we can say with confidence which countries these migrants come from. A lot of them have no papers”
Tom Hunt agreed with host Mike Graham they could lie and say they were from Afghanistan. Which apparently, would be a nationality worth rehousing in the United Kingdom.
Priti Patel’s Nationality and Borders Bill, also known as the anti-refugee bill, is currently making its way through the commons.
The Bill seeks to make it extremely difficult for migrants to claim refugee status in the United Kingdom. Only refugees arriving through “official” channels such as refugee resettlement will be entitled to claim protection. All others, like crossing the channel, will be deemed “inadmissible” and the Government will seek to deport them.
A recent spike in channel crossings has apparently emboldened the Home Office who reissued a joint statement with French interior minister Gérald Darmanin on Monday, recommitting their July 2021 promise to stop “100% of channel crossings”.
According to focaldata polling for charity Refugee Action, three in five voters say all refugees who come to the UK to seek safety should be treated the same, regardless of how they arrived in the UK. The MRP polling estimated just 17 per cent of people think refugees should be treated differently depending on how they arrived in the UK.
On the polling, Tim Naor Hilton, Chief Executive of Refugee Action, said:
“Most voters reject the Home Secretary’s cruel and unlawful plans to punish refugees who have no other option than to make their own way to seek safety on our shores.
“We need a radical rethink of how we treat people fleeing war and persecution. That starts with scrapping the cruel and unworkable anti-refugee Bill, listening to people with lived experience, and creating a refugee protection system that’s just and compassionate.”
