# Why are all the Afghan refugees in Calais desperate to get to the UK? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 22, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-the-afghan-refugees-in-calais-desperate-to-get-to-the-uk/511149 "2009-09-22T21:57:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-the-afghan-refugees-in-calais-desperate-to-get-to-the-uk/511149/21 "2009-09-24T19:10:36Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > I don’t know who your “we” is, who is it you’re implicitly speaking for? > > They’re economic migrants, they’re here to make their lives better. Stats suggest 50% of Poles have now gone home again because of the economic situation. > > If you take “pride” in uncontrolled numbers of economic migrants driving down wages, lengthening housing and NHS waiting lists, increasing class sizes, etc, then I’ll leave you with your thrusting chest. “We” means those not that selfish or cold-hearted that they’d deny economic migrants the chance of a better life. It’s not my fault those numbers are “uncontrolled”. ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-the-afghan-refugees-in-calais-desperate-to-get-to-the-uk/511149/22 "2009-09-25T03:15:30Z")
> [@Oukile](#): > > **Springtime** is right. Being an illegal immigrant means that you will have to arrange some illegal job, in England as well as in France, sure. But no ID means that illegal immigrants can just go around in the streets of England without having _anything_ to be worried about. Actually it means _anybody_ can “just go around in the streets of England without having anything to be worried about” provided that they aren’t engaged in criminal activity, and personally that’s the way I’d like it to stay. If illegals have to worry about random ID checks, so do citizens, residents, refugees and tourists. [QUOTE=Oukile] This makes a huge difference compared to France. Go and have a little walk in the streets and in the underground of Paris, and you will see what I mean. You won’t pass very frequently through a nevralgic center without seeing some cops controlling some foreign-looking person. [/quote] That is due to the enormous number of illicit street traders in Paris, mostly from North Africa, and has little to do with whether or not they are carrying identity cards. In the UK, if you wish to employ someone, you are obliged to perform certain background checks to ensure that they aren’t working illegally. They will need to have a valid National Insurance number that is registered in their name, and have to present their drivers licence/passport/birth certificate/work visa etc. Of course, if you WANT to employ illegal immigrants, you pay them cash and ask no questions and you can do that whether they have an identity card or not. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-the-afghan-refugees-in-calais-desperate-to-get-to-the-uk/511149/23 "2009-09-25T08:11:26Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > It’s not my fault those numbers are “uncontrolled”. Now you tell “us”. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-the-afghan-refugees-in-calais-desperate-to-get-to-the-uk/511149/24 "2009-10-03T11:09:06Z")
So its nothing to do with our liberal welfare system then? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-the-afghan-refugees-in-calais-desperate-to-get-to-the-uk/511149/25 "2009-10-03T11:15:47Z")
I heard one of the refugees interviewed on the radio a few days ago, when the French authorities were demolishing the camp. He said (approximate quote) “All I want is to find a better life. I don’t mind what country that is in.” It did kind of make me wonder… how many countries have you passed through on the way from Afghanistan to Calais? I can only assume it is a combination of our welfare system and the established Afghan community, as others have mentioned. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-all-the-afghan-refugees-in-calais-desperate-to-get-to-the-uk/511149.md?page=1)