Crowborough Braces for the Arrival of 600 Illegal Migrants

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.

The Home Office has indicated it will provide them with an information booklet which will, amongst other things, encourage the camp residents to behave appropriately inside and outside the camp. Who exactly will decide what is ‘inappropriate behaviour’?

No wonder the residents of Crowborough are concerned – with a number saying they are petrified. Houses on the periphery of the camp are installing additional fencing and alarm systems. In return for the enforced submission of the town to the Home Office’s edict, what will the town get in return? Will the men be grateful for their free bed, board, healthcare, transport and ‘activities’? In turn, will the town adapt to seeing groups of strangers loitering in their town centre?  It seems unlikely on either count.

Even as the grassroots organisation Crowborough Shield fights desperately to get the plan cancelled, so the Home Office acts by stealth, prevaricates, procrastinates. It claims no final decision has been made and yet contractors work continually on the site and staff are recruited. It ushers people into the ‘home’ of the people of Crowborough without any consultation or any care for their welfare and safety. It’s all topsy turvy: this isn’t how a government protects its people.

The public who must deal with such an invasive imposition views with growing incredulity the propensity with which Government Ministers deceive, distort and lie.

In the space of 18 months the Labour Government has had to either dismiss or accept the resignation of: the Deputy Prime Minister/Deputy Leader who ‘overlooked’ payment of stamp duty on a second home; a Minister for Transport who it turned out had committed fraud; a Homelessness Minister who turfed tenants out of a property she owned; an Ambassador to the US who was dismissed because of his ongoing association with a convicted paedophile; and so it goes on. Still clinging on is a Chancellor who is notoriously economic with the truth regarding personal and professional matters.

At the head of the Home Office which now oversees the fate of Crowborough and similar places is the latest Home Secretary and her team of Ministers and civil servants: a Home Office whose stated core purpose is to “keep citizens safe and the country secure”.

As things stand, Crowborough’s residents are left to second guess and hypothesise regarding the arrival of up to 600 unknown men into their midst. This week? Next week? Before or after Christmas? All in one go – or not at all? There are verbal wrestling matches on local social media between the naïve and the pragmatic. Most stay silent, dismayed by the whole matter. They might be forgiven for having lost any trust in the Government’s will or commitment to keep them safe and secure.

In treating a town and its residents in such a cavalier manner, the Government treats those who they are paid and appointed to serve with disdain. They wilfully distort and deceive and lie with impunity.

Meanwhile Crowborough camp continues to be prepared for the arrival of hundreds of unknown young men who do not come here to defend us or keep us safe. It is reasonable to wonder what all the soldiers who, over many so decades, passed through Crowborough camp en route to train or to fight for their country would make of what’s happening there now.  I think we all know.

Madeleine Gillies is a Crowborough resident with a career in language teaching in the UK and abroad.