Border agents’ passenger has a hitch: He’s illegal
| August 3, 2009 | 2:01 PM
More journal entries from John Moore »
Good luck explaining this one to the boss.
An illegal immigrant hitched a ride into Britain on a bus full of border agents. And then he escaped.
At least 20 immigration officers were returning from France when a man hid himself underneath their vehicle. The stowaway managed to ride between the gas tank and the chassis from Calais, France, through the Channel Tunnel — a 35-minute trip — and all the way to the UK Border Agency depot in Folkestone, England. He was inches from the rear wheels the whole time.
According to the Discover Folkestone Web site, the city is “easy to reach by car, coach, bus and train.” Guess the marketing campaign is working.
The bus driver, a contract worker who isn’t a border agent, chased the man after he dropped down from under the bus at the depot and started running. But the driver wasn’t quick enough to stop him.
The fleet-footed suspect has plenty of company — Britain is home to an estimated 725,000 illegal immigrants. In fact, the number of illegals being caught hiding in trucks and vans is on the rise this year, the Border Agency says.
Commercial drivers, who face a mandatory fine equivalent to about $3,300 for each illegal immigrant they fail to keep from stowing away in their trucks, are fuming that the bus driver wasn’t penalized. But the government says he did an adequate check of the vehicle before it left France.
Sounds like the “close enough for government work” mentality is something else that has sneaked into Britain.
Read more at the London Daily Mail.
Speaking of illegal immigration:
- The Department of Homeland Security wants Sheriff Joe Arpaio, of Maricopa County, Ariz., to stop arresting illegal immigrants whose only crime was crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Read more at The Associated Press.
- And in case you’re wondering what some federal workers are doing with their time, we have this story. Racist comments posted anonymously on a New York newspaper’s Web site, in response to a story about Mexican immigrants being detained, have been traced to computers at Homeland Security. Read more at nytimes.com.
border agents, britain, bus, channel tunnel, england, france, illegal immigrant, immigration officers, london, uk border agency
