'They are already causing alarm!' Crowborough resident says their lives have been turned 'upside down' over migrant camp

Residents have been holding weekly mass protests against the decision to house migrants in their community, after plans emerged to house up to 500 unvetted illegal migrants at their local military camp.

Expressing the concerns and fear among residents about the camp, Gaz told GB News: "We know the main problem is they shouldn't be brought in anyway across the shores, and the second problem is they shouldn't be brought to the towns to be rolled in and rolled out as a detention centre while they're processed.

"But if they have to be here, then they've got to be secure. It is in no way fair on any of the communities, not just us, but all the communities that are affected with this similar problem. We've got to keep them contained."

Revealing that the migrants are "out on the streets" and already "making people feel uncomfortable", he added: "Already we've have had them out on the streets. They have been spotted out, causing alarm with some female residents.

"Not sexual attacks, but making them feel very uneasy. They are coming and going on a daily basis and they're just going about their lives without a care, but the problem is the community do care, and they are concerned."

Hitting out at the estimated extra costs for securing the site, Gaz fumed: "They've already spent an absolute fortune on the site as it is, and now they're saying it's going to be another £5.5million just to police the area for the next 12 months.

"They're waiting for the money to come from the Home Office for this, which, if there's any cost involved, has to come from the Home Office. Why should that come from normal people? Why should it come from local councils? This is a problem that the Home Office have created, nobody else, so the funds have got to come from there."

Airing his anger at the treatment of the migrants while living in the camp, Gaz told GB News: "The army, the cadets, they had to work on the bare minimum there. No money was ever pushed into that site for the army or anything. And now it seems that money is a free-for-all, there's no end to it. Anything they want, they need, they'll be using the flight simulator that the cadets have put in.

"There's new pool tables, table tennis, you've got a fully refurbished kitchen there, lovely grounds for them to walk round, and obviously transport laid on pretty much 24/7 to take them wherever they want to go. And it's us taxpayers and community taxpayers that are suffering the cost of this."

He made clear: "And it's not only the cost, it's the safety of everyone. Everyone's lives have been turned upside down and it's got to stop. I'm absolutely sick and tired of hearing from people who message me on a daily basis how worried they are, they don't want to go out and they don't want to send their kids to school, and I do not get why nobody is listening.

"I know the media's listening, I know some individuals are listening, but the Home Office aren't listening and Nusrat Ghani [Conservative MP] is not listening. I don't care what she actually comes out and says, but she's not listening. Rachel Millward was not listening, she's just worried about the Green Party and also the manifesto and the Care for Calais and to bring them in, and we should look after them.

"And I'm absolutely, as a Crowborough resident with grandchildren in the town myself, I am fed up with hearing about people's upset."

Comparing the Crowborough crisis to other areas of the UK housing migrants, Gaz said: "You've only got to look at other areas that have been affected, Wethersfield, they've got a massive problem over there, you've got Copthorne, they've got a big problem, Portsmouth, everyone's got a massive problem there.

"We're not saying that everyone is bad that goes in there, but if you stick 540 unvetted men into one area and you just take 10 per cent that are bad, that's still 54 people that are going to cause problems, and that is enough for me. Even if you had one bad person in there and you could have a long history of criminality, that's enough for me that they shouldn't be there and they shouldn't be allowed to wander about the town."

Hitting back at claims that those protesting the migrants being housed there are "racist", Gaz concluded: "I've got an Asian neighbour, he works three jobs to support his kids. He's got a 17-year-old daughter who has to travel on the train every day, and he's considering giving up a couple of his jobs, which is going to put a massive impact on their family so he can travel on that train to make sure she's safe in and out of our town.

"So I'm fed up with being called a racist, it's nothing to do with that. We have a multicultural town, as does everyone else in this country, and they're here, they're working, we're all working together, and they are worried about their kids as well."

In a statement, a Home Office spokesman told GB News: "Robust safety and public protection safeguards were in place at Crowborough, along with specialist security on site and 24/7 CCTV.

"All asylum seekers will have been screened against policing, criminality and immigration databases before arriving. To clarify, not all the migrants or those seeking asylum have committed a criminal or indeed a sexual offence."