{"id":231315,"date":"2025-07-02T06:36:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T06:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/231315\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T06:36:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T06:36:11","slug":"migrant-reveals-mad-reason-why-he-wants-to-come-to-uk-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/231315\/","title":{"rendered":"Migrant reveals mad reason why he wants to come to UK | UK | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A migrant<\/a> staying in a Calais camp has revealed the startling reason he wanted to take two treacherous boat trips to live in Britain.<\/p>\n

Abdullah, 19, from Somalia, crossed the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy and then took a bus ride to France where he has been attempting to board a UK-bound dinghy.<\/p>\n

He spoke to the Express as he returned from the beaches of Northern France to a makeshift tent city in the centre of town after a failed attempt to travel to Britain<\/a>. The teenager said he was inspired by people in the camp who\u2019d already successfully made the journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy friend already got there,\u201d he added enthusiastically, \u201ca few days ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abdullah said migrants were staggering their attempts to cross the Channel to increase the likelihood of one of the vessels making it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just tried to go and take the boat,\u201d he told us, \u201cI can\u2019t go again [yet] because now other people need to [try].\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what appealed to him about Britain specifically, he gestured to the tents erected amongst rocks beside the river in Calais.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s better than here,\u201d he added, \u201cit’s not living like this.<\/p>\n

\u201c[There is] housing, jobs [and] you get to manage your life. If you are studying or you have [a] goal to play football or be an actor [you can try]. You can\u2019t get that chance in France.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abdullah wants to board a dinghy because he dreams of playing football for Liverpool FC.<\/p>\n

He refuses to attempt a professional career in any of the football-loving countries he\u2019d travelled through already because it would mean approaching clubs other than his beloved Reds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you feel for one team you have to go, you can\u2019t do with another,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

As with many migrants the Express spoke to during a reporting trip in Calais, the dangers posed by boarding a dinghy were played down in the context of a war-torn situation back home. Abdullah believed the risk was outweighed by the potential reward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a 50\/50 [chance of survival]. You have to take it because the difference [is] between a good life and a bad [one],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have the opportunity to fly there so you have to go this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a reporting trip to Calais, the Express uncovered evidence that migrants coming by small boat to the UK are being transported for free by traffickers<\/a> because they can pay off the debt once in Britain by working illegally.<\/p>\n

According to one group of migrants, smugglers were charging between \u00a31,500 and \u00a32,000 and were striking deals with potential customers as far away as Turkey.<\/p>\n

You can watch the Express’s tracking of migrants planning to cross the Channel on our YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A migrant staying in a Calais camp has revealed the startling reason he wanted to take two treacherous…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[63225,90874,89247,5502,763,90875,5804,12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-231315","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-calais","9":"tag-calais-camp","10":"tag-channel-crossing","11":"tag-english-channel","12":"tag-liverpool-fc","13":"tag-liverpool-fc-dream","14":"tag-migrant-crisis","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114782259432811252","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}