Migrants have shared their reasons for travelling to the UK and not other countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands. While net migration to the UK has dropped sharply to the lowest levels since 2012, investigations reporter Zak Garner-Purkis found that some were choosing to relocate to the UK after decades of living elsewhere.
One person told Garner-Purkis that their decision to leave behind the Netherlands and other European Union countries is fuelled by the UK’s inability to send them back.
Garner-Purkis explained: “In one case, completely willingly, on camera to me, said, ‘I was living illegally for 16 years in the Netherlands. They’ve kicked me out but I’m going to go try and get asylum in the UK because I think I’ll do better there.’
Garner-Purkis, who went undercover in a migrant camp to expose human traffickers, also noted the reasoning that some had for travelling to the UK went further than reasons of displacement.
He added: “What our undercover reporter got was even more explosive because he started having a conversation with a guy from Iran and he said ‘what are you coming to the UK for?’ And the guy said… he was like ‘drugs, stab, shoot.’
“He admitted he had a criminal record in Denmark… his reasoning for coming to the UK was they can’t send me back to another part of the EU.”
A description for the Daily Espresso’s recent episode covering the migrant crisis reads: “Migrant smuggling gangs are planning to invade Britain with young men willing to join gangs and cause chaos.
“In an explosive episode Daily Express investigations editor Zak Garner-Purkis reveals what is really going on inside one of France’s biggest migrant camps after he went undercover and was attacked for exposing criminal smugglers. Posing as a migrant trying to reach the UK, our undercover reporter spoke to fellow would-be asylum seekers and caught some shocking scenes on camera.”
