Migrants waiting to cross the Channel to Britain today thanked Gary Lineker for opposing Rishi Sunak 's immigration bill.
And Ahmad Harris, 17, one of an estimated 1,200 migrants camped in squalid conditions on the French coast, compared the BBC ’s move to silence him to the tactics of the Taliban.
Ahmad, who fled Kabul six months ago and has family in the UK, told us: “Gary Lineker is a good man and a hero to us for speaking.
“The BBC are not good trying to shut him up. Freedom to speak is needed. It sounds like life in Afghanistan where there is no freedom of speech.”
Ali Malekzay, also 17, from Nangarhar, Afghanistan, added: “When I get to England I’d like to hug him.”
PM Rishi Sunak pledged to “detain and swiftly remove” all Channel migrants “within weeks” in his announcement earlier this week.
He also agreed to give £500million to France in a bid to stop the crossings.
But Ahmad said: “We’ll carry on to England. We have to. What else are we supposed to do?
“I would like to say to him: your family also came from another country, now you’re saying we can’t come. Please change your mind.
“He welcomes refugees from Ukraine, but my family suffered war too and we are also people like them.
“Nobody leaves home to come here unless they have a big problem. We had to do it to get to safety.”
Ahmad left his home in Kabul six months ago after his father, an engineer, paid £13,000 to smugglers to get him to the UK via Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and then into Europe before arriving in France a month ago.
He has a sister living here and a brother, who works as an engineer in Crystal Palace, South London.
He dreams of working as an NHS doctor in London or Manchester, where he also has uncles and cousins who worked with British soldiers in Afghanistan.
He added: “I want to help serve the UK, just like I wanted to help in my home country.”
Jess Sharman of charity Care4Calais said migrants were concerned about the Tory clampdown on Channel crossings, but neither that nor the Rwanda scheme were putting them off.
She added: “It’s not having the deterrent the Government hoped for.”
Home Office figures show a record 45,756 people illegally crossed the Channel in small boats last year – 17,000 more than in 2021.
About 3,000 migrants have crossed so far this year, with the Home Office braced for up to 80,000 to arrive by the end of December.
Home Office insiders say they are confident the new asylum legislation can be fast-tracked and on the statute book by summer.
Jess, 27, said: “The policy will put people in danger of more risks because it’ll mean they won’t take asylum when they reach the UK and will instead be driven underground.
“I know of 10 suicides since I arrived here in April and we are seeing a lot of mental health issues.”
