Remember the Essex 39
‘I’m sorry Mum. My journey abroad hasn’t succeeded. Mum, I love you so much! I’m dying because I can’t breathe.’
- Text from 26 year old Pham Thi Tra, to her parents, before she died.
It’s so hard to write when you care so deeply about something. I’m struggling to find the words. It’s been a long time since I’ve tried to write something like this.
A year ago today, 39 bodies were discovered in a refrigerated lorry in Essex.
31 men. 8 women.
10 of the victims were still teenagers, aged between fifteen and nineteen.
Thirty-nine people died.
For a second, it felt like this country felt something. But the year that has followed has if anything, proven the opposite. Priti Patel’s political career has thrived on the populist ideology that you deserve to be here simply because you were born here. You deserve this land because by birth right it is yours. She is throwing people, real people, to their deaths by restricting the routes for legal immigration, and attacking and dehumanising those who try to come here illegally, in the press. Her influence is dangerous, and she seems to care not for life, but for her own political career.
Despite Patel’s ‘crackdown’ on immigration, smuggling networks continue to operate. The legal changes, the increased hardships, mean nothing to the criminal organisations that exploit the people in need that our country has attempted to shut out. Tougher boarders don’t stop smuggling.
Criminalising migrants will not stop migration.
There is so much more I want to write, but I’m just not sure how to write it. It’s been three years since I went to Vietnam. A journey I made without risk. I was able to go back, see my country, and return safely to England with no risk. Simply because I was born here.
My heart is heavy for those that will continue to try, and those that will inevitably fail.
Thirty-nine people died. They were not the first, and they will not be the last. Don’t let their deaths be for nothing. Immigration law must change.
Pham Thi Tra My, 26, from Ha Tinh
Nguyen Dinh Luong, 20, from Ha Tinh
Nguyen Huy Phong, 35, from Ha Tinh
Vo Nhan Du, 19, from Ha Tinh
Tran Manh Hung, 37, from Ha Tinh
Tran Khanh Tho, 18, from Ha Tinh
Vo Van Linh, 25, from Ha Tinh
Nguyen Van Nhan, 33, from Ha Tinh
Bui Phan Thang, 37, from Ha Tinh
Nguyen Huy Hung, 15, from Ha Tinh
Tran Thi Tho, 21, from Nghe An
Bui Thi Nhung, 19, from Nghe An
Vo Ngoc Nam, 28, from Nghe An
Nguyen Dinh Tu, 26, from Nghe An
Le Van Ha, 30, from Nghe An
Tran Thi Ngoc, 19, from Nghe An
Nguyen Van Hung, 33, from Nghe An
Hoang Van Tiep, 18, from Nghe An
Cao Tien Dung, 37, from Nghe An
Cao Huy Thanh, 33, from Nghe An
Tran Thi Mai Nhung, 18, from Nghe An
Nguyen Minh Quang, 20, from Nghe An
Le Trong Thanh, 44, from Dien Chau
Pham Thi Ngoc Oanh, 28, from Nghe An
Hoang Van Hoi, 24, from Nghe An
Nguyen Tho Tuan, 25, from Nghe An
Dang Huu Tuyen, 22, from Nghe An
Nguyen Trong Thai, 26, from Nghe An
Nguyen Van Hiep, 24, from Nghe An
Nguyen Thi Van, 35, from Nghe An
Tran Hai Loc, 35, from Nghe An
Duong Minh Tuan, 27, from Quang Binh
Nguyen Ngoc Ha, 32, from Quang Binh
Nguyen Tien Dung, 33, from Quang, Binh
Phan Thi Thanh, 41, from Hai Phong
Nguyen Ba Vu Hung, 34, from Thua Tien Hue
Dinh Dinh Thai Quyen, 18, from Hai Phong
Tran Ngoc Hieu, 17, from Hai Duong
Dinh Dinh Binh, 15, from Hai Phong
Rest in peace x
