Amid claims that the dangerous sea crossings will multiply unless migrants are returned, the ex-senior Home Office official, David Wood, said leaving the EU would end current agreements designed to deter such attempts.
At the BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, the former deputy chief executive of the Border Agency and ex-director general of immigration enforcement at the Home Office, said that Britain may lose protections currently given under the Dublin Agreement, which says asylum seekers should claim refuge in the first safe country they arrive in.
“Once we are out of the EU we are not, I suspect, part of Dublin. Currently if people come here and claim asylum and it is found they claimed asylum in another EU country they can be returned to that EU country. If we are out of the Dublin Agreement we would be out of that.”
Home Secretary Sajid Javid this week announced two Border Force cutters will be redeployed from the Med to patrol the Channel after approximately close to 220 migrants have tried to enter the UK.
