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Simply put....is it true that if we stay in the EU that non Eu illegal immigrants in France trying to get to the UK have to stay on the French side of the channel?
And that if we leave the EU that the official border line for both ferry and channel tunnel would then naturally fall into THIS side of the channel and therefore all the people,being rejected would end up camped in Kent?
How much of that is true? ( assuming that all ferries ended up in Kent)
Isn't it just by agreement in any case?
Sounds implausible. Consider illegals traveling to the US. Those rejected by border control are required to be returned by the carrier who brought them.
The agreement that puts UK border officers on the French side of the tunnel is a bilateral agreement between the UK and France, not anything to do with the EU membership. As such, the French (or us, I guess) could revoke it, or not, regardless of the referendum result of our EU membership.
That is, if we stay in, France could still revoke it. If we leave, they could still maintain it.
A scare story was put about that they would revoke it if we left, which is a position supported, for example, by the Mayor of Calais. But then, the Mayor of Calais has been calling for it to happen, anyway, even if we're still in. IIRC, the French foreign minister said the arrangement is staying, either way.
As I understand it, the general position is that arrivees at any international border have to clear customs and immigration before being "in" a country as TeePee said. Usually, the carrier bringing them in is presented with those passengers not clearing immigration to take them back to their point of origin, or potentially, their home nation.
Where it gets tricky is with illegal immigrants, probably without any valid ID, when you can't prove nationality and no regular carrier was used, or at least, officially used. Which is why boats across the Med, or the back of lorries through the tunnel, are popular - there is no "carrier" to hand them back to. And, once they set foot here, they can request asylum. Of course, they could request it of France but won't, which is why known hotspots of illegals, be it the old Sangatte or the current "Jungle" are so contentious.