The British government is considering sending migrants to the volcanic island of Ascension, 6500 km from the UK, located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
In order to curb illegal migration, as well as reduce the cost of living for refugees, the issue of their resettlement at former military bases and moored barges is on the agenda of discussion by the government.
Last Monday, the first such “resettlement” took place: the first group of 500 migrants boarded the Bibby Stockholm barge. A floating craft with 222 cabins, capable of accommodating half a thousand refugees, is moored in Portland. The barge is 93 meters long and 27 meters wide. The ship, owned by a Swedish company, has previously housed migrants and oil workers in other countries.
Not everyone, and this is putting it mildly, likes such a neighborhood. Some residents of Portland fear for their safety, others condemn the “floating prison” at the foot of the island with a population of only about 13 thousand people.
However, the authorities do not agree with this term, they argue that migrants are free. At the same time, the NGO Care4Calais, which works to protect refugees and migrants, on Monday denounced the “brutal” and “inhumane” system, saying that some refugees “survived torture and slavery, as well as the traumatic experience of being at sea.”
To which the Secretary of the Interior, Sarah Dines, said that illegal immigrants who arrived in the country must have “basic but proper housing”, they “cannot expect to live in a four-star hotel.”
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