Oh, @Nigel_Farage , there is a rather obvious contradiction here. ⠀ When Border Force and the police meet arrivals, take control of them, keep groups together and move them to processing facilities, you and others complain about the “escort”. ⠀ Now you complain that people are supposedly “landing here and disappearing into the ether”. ⠀ Which is it? ⠀ The whole purpose of controlled interception and processing is precisely to prevent people simply disappearing. ⠀ At Manston, identities and other details are collected and checked. Nationality information is recorded, and the Home Office publishes detailed statistics on where small-boat arrivals come from. ⠀ That does not mean every identity is instantly and perfectly verified. Of course it does not. ⠀ But “we don’t know who they are or where they’re from” is not an accurate description of the system as a whole. ⠀ Then there is the phrase “fighting-age men”. ⠀ Why “fighting-age”? ⠀ The official statistical category is ADULT MEN. ⠀ “Fighting-age” is a military expression which encourages people to view civilian migrants as though they constitute some sort of hostile force. ⠀ And while adult men are undoubtedly the majority of small-boat arrivals, they are not everybody. ⠀ The latest breakdown is approximately: ⠀ 72% adult men 13% adult women 15% children ⠀ And, to be absolutely clear, that children category includes both boys and girls. ⠀ So why omit the women and children entirely? ⠀ If you believe the border system is failing, make that argument using the evidence. ⠀ If people really are “disappearing into the ether”, publish the figures showing how many, when, and from which arrivals. ⠀ But “fighting-age men”, “we don’t know who they are” and “national emergency” are rhetoric. ⠀ The facts are quite capable of standing on their own without militarising the language.