The smuggler works quickly.
asserted
smuggler → work → ?
Using a small shovel, he digs up a dinghy buried in a sand dune on a beach not far from Boulogne-sur-Mer, assembles it and affixes a motor in record time.
asserted
he → use → time
“I never saw anyone work like this,” says Amad, from Iraq, one of a group of about 30 asylum seekers waiting to cross the Channel.
asserted
Amad → see → Channel
“The UK government wants to stop the smugglers, but they are smart.
asserted
they → want → smugglers
They have plan A, plan B and plan C, so there is always a way for them to get people across this sea.
asserted
them → have → sea
For as long as asylum seekers will pay them, there is too much money involved for them to give up.
asserted
them → pay → them
”
The wind has dropped, the waves are flat and there are no French police in sight.
asserted
waves → drop → sight
The conditions are perfect as the smuggler rushes everyone into the dinghy as it moves away from the shore.
asserted
it → rush → shore
Amad is one of several asylum speakers who spoke to the Guardian this week from the area of northern France known as the Jungle.
asserted
who → speak → Jungle
They were hoping to cross the Channel to the UK in the next few days.
asserted
They → hop → days
“This place is busier than ever,” says another asylum seeker, Omar, from Yemen.
asserted
seeker → say → Yemen
Everyone wants to cross.”
asserted
Everyone → want → ?
Some who have already been forcibly removed from the UK are hoping to return.
asserted
who → remove → UK
They were sent to France under the “one in, one out” scheme, where one small-boat arrival is forcibly returned to France in exchange for another asylum seeker brought legally to the UK.
asserted
arrival → send → UK
Now, after moving approximately 1,500 people in both directions across the Channel, the scheme has been brought to an end.
asserted
scheme → move → end
Beset with problems, it could not be effectively scaled up, the British government concluded.
uncertain
government → Beset → problems
NGOs working on the ground with asylum seekers in northern France were unsurprised by the outcome and say the end of “one in, one out” must prompt a wider discussion about how to deal with the crisis in the Channel.
asserted
end → work → Channel
The UK government has shown little sign it is contemplating a radical shift in attitude.
asserted
it → show → attitude
A Home Office spokesperson pointed the Guardian to an announcement about a refugee resettlement scheme that is likely to assist only a few hundred refugees a year and is highly unlikely to stop people crossing the Channel in small boats.
asserted
that → point → boats
The spokesperson said: “Just last week, the home secretary announced the reopening of the UK resettlement scheme for new referrals, providing genuine refugees with a safe and legal route to the UK.”
asserted
secretary → say → UK
The agencies calling for a different approach hope at least to expand the parameters of the debate.
asserted
agencies → call → debate
According to workers in the Jungle, living conditions there are appalling.
uncertain
conditions → accord → Jungle
Those at Utopia 56, which witnesses police interventions on French beaches where asylum seekers try to board dinghies, say that since the UK increased its funding to France earlier this year on a payment-by-results basis, police violence against migrants has increased significantly.
asserted
violence → witness → migrants
Utopia 56 estimates a 40% increase in police violence from April to August 2026 compared with the same period the previous year.
asserted
Utopia → estimate → period
That coincided with an agreement for the UK to pay France £660m over three years to ramp up “stop the boats” initiatives.
asserted
UK → coincide → initiatives
Sophie McCann, of Médecins Sans Frontières UK, said: “The government’s increasingly brutal efforts to stop people trying to reach the UK by boat are failing.
asserted
efforts → say → boat
MSF’s medical and mental health teams in Calais and Dunkirk witness the serious physical and psychological harm caused by violence and harassment meted out by French police, largely funded by the UK, on people who have already fled war, persecution and extreme hardship.
asserted
who → witness → war
“People will continue to risk their lives crossing the Channel in search of safety in the UK until the government provides safe and accessible routes.”
asserted
government → continue → routes
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which has many Home Office staff among its members, has worked with the refugee charity Care4Calais to draw up a blueprint to introduce a refugee visa-to-travel scheme for asylum seekers to travel legally to the UK.
asserted
seekers → have → UK
The plan would still require asylum claims to be considered on merit and for those whose claims are rejected to be removed from the UK.
uncertain
claims → require → UK
But they say it would eliminate people smugglers from the equation and save lives.
asserted
it → say → lives
According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IMO), at least 225 people have died while trying to cross the Channel since 2018.
uncertain
people → accord → 2018
The scheme would be unlikely to halt irregular arrivals entirely, but Care4Calais says it could dent the smugglers’ business in a way that other initiatives have failed to do.
uncertain
initiatives → halt → that
Charlotte Khan, of Care4Calais, said: “Consecutive governments have focused on border security measures that have only made Channel crossings more dangerous, resulting in a shocking number of lives lost, while completely ignoring the only solution that will work – safe routes.”
asserted
that → say → solution
The PCS general secretary, Fran Heathcote, called for safe routes to be significantly scaled up.
asserted
routes → call → ?
“Our members deal with the human impact of the asylum system on a daily basis and their voices must be heard.
asserted
voices → deal → basis
The only way to truly undermine criminal smuggling gangs is to remove the demand through a Ukrainian-style visa system, allowing people fleeing war and persecution to travel safely and legally to claim asylum.
uncertain
people → undermine → asylum
”
The Labour government has arguably made more efforts than any other to try to prevent asylum seekers from reaching the UK in small boats.
asserted
government → make → boats
Previously, people travelled less visibly, in the backs of lorries or on planes, and so attracted less public attention.
asserted
people → travel → attention
Images of black dinghies overcrowded with people in orange lifejackets, monetised for social media clicks by far-right agitators, have generated mounting hostility from some who say they are evidence that the government has lost control of its borders.
asserted
government → overcrowd → borders
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
