Care4Calais operates in France and the UK giving out a reported 162,000 items to nearly 30,000 illegal migrants.
Migrants in the Channel trying to reach the UK illegally (Image: Getty)
A British charity hands out more than 162,000 items to the multitude of migrants entering the UK, including 2,000 free SIM cards with six-month data pre-loaded, it has been reported. Care4Calais’s annual report details how volunteers have hand-delivered 162,000 items in the UK and France, and how they have hand-delivered 2,221 Vodafone SIM cards, 3,765 hoodies, 3,532 pairs of joggers and 1,174 t-shirts to ensure the migrants are clothed and can call and text.
Handouts also included 1,173 “Ramadan food packs” distributed around Calais, 2,770 “snug packs” featuring hats, neck-warmers and gloves, and 1,169 weatherproof garments, it is reported. At British military bases housing asylum seekers, it’s reported Care4Calais ran 80 “drop-in sessions” and 17 large-scale handout sessions offering 23,000 freebies.
Care4Calais workers helping migrants (Image: Getty)
The charity also offers thousands of free haircuts, phone charging services, English lessons and even bike and sewing repairs. They also offer “new arrival packs” to welcome around 1,800 migrants on the South Coast.
GB News reports the SIM cards are part of a deal between British firm Vodafone and the charity. Express.co.uk have contacted Vodafone for comment.
Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley told GB News migrants were being “assisted every inch of the way into our country”.
“Onto our shores, where there is more division. More anger. More frustration. People go into the streets. I’m surprised that it was only Thetford this week,” he added in reference to recent anti-migrant protests in the Norfolk town.
Mr Bleksley said there should be charities such as “Care4Crayford, Care4Cumbria or Care4Cumberland”, rather than Care4Calais.
Former Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell told the outlet “an awful lot” of the charity’s activists “are naive idealists who think they are doing good”.
He added: “If you provide support in the camps in Calais, you are encouraging people to come to this country, regardless of the legitimacy of their asylum claim.
“That’s not good. It’s not supported by the public and it’s not sustainable.”
Andy Burnham with Border Force officials and a Channel small boat (Image: PA)
Express.co.uk have contacted Care4Calais for comment.
Sydney Sopher, Chief Operations Officer at Care4Calais, previously told the Daily Express: “As a humanitarian aid charity supporting refugees in Calais, what we measure is the number of refugees living in appalling conditions across northern France who need our support.
“From that perspective, the number of people currently attending our distributions is consistent with previous years, but their needs are even greater given the prolonged heatwave and the constant cycle of site evictions carried out by the French authorities that strip refugees of their shelter, belongings and dignity.
“Our team is working incredibly hard, as they always do, to support the refugee community.”
Fury at secret Home Office plan to house asylum seekers in idyllic seaside town
Reform Welsh Senedd member Tom Montgomery claimed as many as 52 asylum seekers could be housed at the site.
Sunset over the Welsh coast near Gronant (Image: Getty)
Families in an idyllic coastal village better known for its colony of little terns have reacted with fury to secretive Home Office plans to house asylum seekers there. Residents of Gronant in Flintshire, which has a population of around 1,600, have been told that 13 of 15 new homes at the former Gronant Institute site are due to be used by Clearsprings, a company working for the Home Office, to accommodate families awaiting decisions on their asylum claims.
Local councillor Glyn Banks is seeking a meeting involving the area’s Labour MP, police and representatives of concerned residents. He said: “The lack of any early briefing from Clearsprings or the Home Office has caused great upset in the community.”
Reform Welsh Senedd member Tom Montgomery claimed as many as 52 asylum seekers could be housed at the site.
He has written to the UK Government asking what security checks have been carried out and demanding that the proposals are stopped.
Mr Montgomery said: “With Gronant only having 697 households, limited services, and poor public transport links, it should be apparent to any reasonable person that it is the wrong place to house asylum-seekers.”
The plans have prompted concern in the village, with residents angry that they say they were not properly informed about the proposals before they emerged.
Gronant is home to an important colony of little terns and is known for its coastal setting and sandy beaches.
Flintshire County Council defended the asylum seekers who could be housed there.
A spokesman said: “They are not illegal immigrants, they are individuals exercising their legal right to claim asylum and deserve to be treated with compassion and respect.”