The poem opens with an epigraph taken from a much earlier poem, Matthew Arnold's 1851 "Dover Beach." In that poem, a first-person speaker looks out to sea from the cliffs of Dover in the southeast of England, and worries about the the future—in particular, about his sense that Christian civilization is on the wane.
Nagra alludes to this poem ironically. "Look We Have Coming to Dover!" is a poem from the perspective of a recent (and undocumented) immigrant, and Nagra's quotation here plays on populist fears that the arrival of immigrants in England signals some kind of degeneration, a threat to a particular way of life. The speaker in this poem has the reverse perspective, looking towards England, not out to sea. The "various," "beautiful," and "new" land in Arnold's poem is, from the speaker's perspective, a land of dreams. The arriving immigrants hope that they'll start a new and better life when they reach shore.
Dover Beach is a historically important site in English history and has always been a major gateway to the country—especially for hostile forces. The opening lines here establish the poem's use of metaphorical language related to invasion, describing how the speaker and others are:
Stowed in the sea to invade
the lash alfresco of diesel-breeze
ratcheting speed into the tide[.]
England's right-wing press and anti-immigration rhetoric frequently use this kind of language, heightening the sense that immigrants pose a threat to the basic structure of society. Like the allusion to "Dover Beach," this military lexicon is also ironic: the speaker and the others on the boat are not really invading the country. They are trying to get to England via unofficial channels in the hope of a better standard of life.
They feel themselves "invad[ing]," not England, but the "lash alfresco of a diesel-breeze"—that is, the harsh, fume-laden air that surrounds their small boat. "Alfresco" is an Italian word that translates as "in fresh air," but in English specifically refers to outdoor dining—a luxurious connotation that feels intentionally awkward and out of place. It anticipates the poem's juxtaposition between the immigrants on their little boat and the tourists on the nearby cruise ships, who enjoy gourmet food while the immigrants struggle to survive the crossing.