Forex Trading For Beginners 2021: Channel crossings: Patel calls on social media companies to take down videos

People thought to be migrants brought to Dover

Home Secretary Priti Patel has called for the removal of social media posts that "glamourise" dangerous migrant crossings from Europe.

In a letter to social media companies, Ms Patel said videos promoting "lethal crossings" were "unacceptable".

Several hundred migrants have attempted to cross the Channel in the past week.

Reports that a Border Force ship entered French waters and picked up migrants from a UK-bound dinghy are being investigated by the Home Office.

Ms Patel's letter was sent on Saturday after a video that the Home Office said appeared to show a group of men crossing the Channel in a dinghy went viral on TikTok.

People smugglers use the posts - which also feature on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter - to promote crossings to desperate migrants, the Home Office added.

"Posts which promote and even glamorise these lethal crossings are totally unacceptable. They encourage others to leave a safe European country and put theirs and their family's life at risk and are even used by people smugglers to promote their deadly business," Ms Patel said.

"What these posts don't mention are the people who have died trying to make this crossing, or those forced to spend 13 hours in unseaworthy boats in freezing waters."

She added that social media companies have "made progress" in removing the posts but "must quickly and proactively... before more men, women and children die in the Channel".

Border Force dealt with four boats carrying 83 people on Friday.

So far this year, there have been more than 4,000 arrivals, a trend that could see this year's numbers outstrip last year's total of about 8,500.

The Home Office said it was "cracking down on the despicable criminal gangs behind people smuggling" and more than 4,000 people had been prevented from making the crossing so far this year.

But Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the government's approach "isn't working" and it should instead "expand safe routes so that people don't have to risk their lives taking dangerous journeys".

"The reality is that when fleeing war, terror and persecution, ordinary people are forced to take extraordinary steps to seek safety in another country," he said.

"Creating safe and regular routes to the UK - through an expanded resettlement programme, humanitarian visas and reforming the restrictive family reunion rules - is the way to effectively address the issue."

Meanwhile, the Home Office is investigating a Daily Mail report that a Border Force officer asked a French ship for permission to get a group of migrants in French waters last weekend.

Lucy Moreton, from the Immigration Services Union, said she had no first-hand knowledge of the incident, but there had apparently been no threat to life.

She said it was a common tactic for migrants to threaten to throw someone overboard if a French vessel came too close, because migrants knew if they were picked up by a UK ship they were "as good as here".

The Prefecture Maritime de la Manche in France said the risks that migrants crossing the Channel face include overloaded boats, makeshift vessels, lack of life jackets, cold sea temperatures and inappropriate clothing.

"The priority is therefore to be able to rescue them," a statement said.