So far, the British government is refusing to pay. More than 100 asylum-seekers have already been returned to the French port of Calais, the British Home Office, which oversees immigration, reported Oct. 23. But Dover's local authority continues to house at least 800 asylum-seekers. Local guesthouses in and around the town are paid 10 a night for every Romany adult, and 5 a night for every child. More than 200 Romany children have been placed in local schools, and a recently closed retirement home has been reopened as a social services office.
Some locals feel the whole crisis has gone too far.
Pub drinkers recounted one of the many rumors mushrooming around the town. One Romany recently bought a 5,000 car and paid for it in cash, they said. Asylum-seeker Anca Pozerova, a mother of two in her 40s, now feels more than a little unwanted. People look at us strangely in the street. I'm starting to get nervous.