The impression given, certainly by Jacqui Smith, is that these proposed centres will be holding camps for vast hoards of illegal immigrants rounded up from Calais and other parts of northern France, who will be swiftly shipped out to their respective homelands by charter jet. Don�t hold your breath.
Many of those involved �have committed no offence� and so there will be no grounds for their detention. Arriving in a country with no papers or forged documents is, apparently, insufficient for detention. Nor is continually trespassing and breaking into vehicles. �Legal teams� will be swiftly drafted in to secure the release of those �illegally detained�.
To warrant detention they must have had an asylum application � and the multitude of appeals that follow - turned down. Those involved have no intention of applying for asylum in France. As is obvious, the UK is their preferred final destination.
Among the facilities on offer at the new establishments (apart from ablutions and hot soup) will be �advice on how to claim asylum once they arrive in Britain�. This is not from the Daily Mail, but is a quote from M. Eric Besson, the French Immigration Minister.
So there you have it. The UK taxpayer, �jointly� funding these new centres, is being told they will be used to hold those eager to enter the UK illegally until they can be repatriated. The French Minister, meanwhile, is making arrangements for advice to be given to the inmates on how to do something �once they arrive in Britain� � something which he should be encouraging them to do in France.
Who do we believe? I know where my money is. Never mind. The country will have an even bigger pool of �desperately needed workers� (latest unemployment total >2 million) from which to choose once the inmates arrive after a much needed wash and brush up.