Last Sunday as a wintry sun beamed through the trees bordering the driveway down to Crowborough army camp, a rapidly growing mass of people gathered, chatting, smiling and relaxed – a mass which would eventually form into a wide phalanx of up to 4,000 people who would march through the centre of their small leafy town. This was the fourth successive protest against the placement of up to 600 men who had entered the country by illegal means into the heart of Crowborough’s community. As with the three previous marches, the protest was orderly, amiable and overwhelmingly comprised of local residents. Such is the growing public and media interest in Crowborough’s fight that even Australia’s Financial Review carried a piece designating the town as “ground zero in Britain’s immigration row”.

Less known is the fact that Crowborough camp has a lengthy history, created as it was in WWI when the War Office acquired the surrounding Ashdown Forest for military training. In all the intervening years it has prepared soldiers to serve abroad and has been used regularly for training purposes for local cadets, reservists and serving troops. The Army Cadet Force, whose cadets used it just two weeks ago, is long established, having morphed from ‘Volunteer Forces’ – formed in 1859 in response to the threat of invasion by France – into the first battalion which was formed by Octavia Hill (of National Trust fame).

As things stand, the Home Office has indicated that it is “continuing to accelerate plans to move people into Crowborough” but would not do so until “the sites are fully operational and safe”.

So it is delaying whilst accelerating – in other words, prevaricating and procrastinating – and whatever the reasons for the delay, it is reasonable to assume that those reasons are not connected to the safety of the residents of Crowborough or of the nearby towns of Tunbridge Wells and Uckfield, to which the migrants will be regularly bussed.

If and when they arrive, the men will be from a range of different countries, cultures and religions. The authorities will not be clear about those details, they may not know themselves, but the local people will be even more in the dark. Locals do however know that their new neighbours have not travelled here by a normal route, but rather have come by stealth, by illegal means. Crossing the Channel without permission is a criminal offence under UK law, as is attempting to use a dangerous type of vessel or any unregistered craft under French law; nonetheless, once they land and claim asylum they gain immunity from prosecution for these offences.

What are their motives for coming here? A proportion may have entirely honourable motives, but incompetent systems spawn criminality and corruption. The main players in this are the organised crime gangs with complex networks ranging across the world. Their ‘clients’ may have been persuaded to raise the cost of an illegal crossing – currently between £3,000 to £6,000 – by things they’ve seen on TikTok or the dark web. Others will be ‘sponsored’ by gangs and will swiftly disappear into criminal activity. Some will be political plants who are sent here to engage in activism.

We learned recently that 53,000 asylum seekers are known to be missing. In other words, having entered and immediately claimed asylum and been entered into the process, these people have disappeared and the Home Office has no idea whatsoever who they really are, where they are or what they are doing. This would indicate that such ‘absconders’ have alternative means of support in the UK and will live and work illegally.

We also know that of the 600 men who may enter the camp, a majority will be from Pakistan, Eritrea, Iran, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. They will of course bring their own cultures and beliefs to the UK with them. This may result in internecine tensions amongst themselves and it will certainly cause them to form groups based on nationality, language and religion – the counterpart of the so called ethnic silos in our towns and cities.

Read More: Crowborough Braces for the Arrival of 600 Illegal Migrants