More migrants arrive in Dover after 300 were picked up at the weekend
- Total arrivals by small boats in 2024 now stands at a provisional total of 8,587
Another group of migrants have arrived in Dover today after more than 300 were picked up in the Channel over the weekend – with the yearly total now topping 8,500.
The migrants, which appear to number around a dozen, were pictured being shepherded ashore at Dover by Border Force officers this morning.
They are presumed to have been picked up from a small boat attempting to cross the Channel.
Today’s migrants come after 266 migrants arrived in six boats on Saturday and 54 migrants arrived in one boat on Sunday.
The latest arrivals come after a surge of recent crossings as the people smuggling gangs take advantage of the relatively calm weather to make more landings.
Border Force officials help rescued migrants into Dover today
At least a dozen individuals wearing bright red life jackets disembarked
They were helped onto the docks for processing, some wearing blankets against the cold
There have been 1,288 arriving this month already, according to Home Office figures.
The total number of arrivals for this year has now reached 8,587, a significant upswing compared to this time last year.
This is around 34 per cent higher than the total at the equivalent point last year, which was 6,192, and 19 per cent higher than the total at this stage in 2022, which was 6,945.
On Wednesday 711 people were detected crossing the English Channel, which is highest number on a single day so far this year.
The highest-ever number of arrivals in a single day is 1,295, which was recorded on August 22, 2022.
Last year 29,437 migrants arrived in the UK, down 36 per cent on a record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.
The series of crossings come as the Rwandan government admitted it could not guarantee how many migrants it will take from the UK under Rishi Sunak’s flagship deportation scheme.
A group of migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent by the RNLI last week after being picked up
A French policeman slashes an inflatable dinghy filled with migrants trying to leave a beach
But Yolande Makolo, a spokeswoman for the east African state, did deny that Rwanda would be able to take a minuscule 200, saying this was the capacity of just one hostel in the country that is slated to house them.
READ MORE: Children being used by migrants as ‘human shields’ on French beaches to stop police reaching their boats, Border Force official claims
Asked by the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg if Rwanda would be able to process tens of thousands of migrants, the official said: ‘We will be able to welcome the migrants that the UK sends over the lifetime of this partnership.
‘What I cannot tell you is how many thousands we are taking in the first year or the second year. This will depend on very many factors that are being worked out right now’, she said.
The perilous crossings cost more lives last week, as five drowned when nearly 100 migrants piled into a small boat which sank off the French coast, including Sara Alhashimi, seven.
Her distraught father, Ahmed, 41, said he all he wanted was for ‘my kids to go to school’ and saw the UK as his last chance after 14 years of failed claims to stay on the continent, even though his daughter was born in Belgium.
Sara had spent most of her short life living with relatives in liberal Sweden, which has boasted of its open doors policy but gave her just two days’ notice that she would be deported.
Sara (pictured) died while trying to cross the Channel to Britain last week
Sara (right) pictured with her father Ahmed
‘I will never forgive myself, but the sea was the only choice I had,’ Mr Alhashimi told the BBC from the northern French coast earlier this week.
Meanwhile, a third man has been charged with an immigration offence in relation to the deaths.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said Mohammed Jibril, 23, from Sudan, will appear at Reading Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, charged with entering the UK illegally.
He was detained in Hayes, west London, and was interviewed by officers on Wednesday.
It comes after two other males from South Sudan and Sudan were charged over the incident, but disputes about their ages and whether they are youths have delayed court proceedings.
The pair claimed they are 15 and 16, but initial age assessments by immigration officers and a social worker placed them in their early 20s.
French authorities have been told to significantly ramp up their efforts to prevent migrants leaving the coast since the tragedy.
They were pictured deploying tear gas and slashing dinghy’s with knives in a bid to try and stop the migrants from crossing.
A group of migrants on an inflatable dinghy in in the English Channel (file image)
Distraught migrants were seen collapsing onto the beach as they are prevented from making the dangerous journey, which some had paid up to £1,000 each to attempt.
READ MORE: Rwanda refuses to guarantee how many UK migrants it will take under £290million deal as government says living in the ‘beautiful’ East African state ‘is not a punishment’
Nearly 121,000 migrants have now been intercepted crossing the English Channel in small boats since 2018, with 6,667 migrants having crossed this year alone, according to official data.
Responding to this month’s discouraging figures, a Home Office spokesman said: ‘The unacceptable number of people who continue to cross the Channel demonstrates exactly why we must get flights to Rwanda off the ground as soon as possible.
‘We continue to work closely with French police who are facing increasing violence and disruption on their beaches as they work tirelessly to prevent these dangerous, illegal and unnecessary journeys. Last year they stopped 26,000 people from reaching our shores.
‘We remain committed to building on the successes that saw arrivals drop by more than a third last year, including tougher legislation and agreements with international partners, in order to save lives and stop the boats.’
Nearly 121,000 migrants have now been intercepted crossing the English Channel in small boats since 2018, with 6,667 migrants having crossed so far this year, according to official data
The government’s Rwanda Bill finally became law last week after months of delay, meaning that Home Office officials can now start detaining the first batch of migrants destined for deportation to Rwanda ahead of the first flights this summer
On Saturday Ursula von der Leyen (pictured), the President of the European Commission, backed a policy of deporting people to third countries for asylum processing
The government’s Rwanda Bill finally became law last week after months of delay, meaning that Home Office officials can now start detaining the first batch of migrants destined for deportation to Rwanda ahead of the first flights this summer.
READ MORE: UK dismisses Irish demand to return migrants crossing from NI pointing out France doesn’t accept Channel arrivals back
On top of this, on Saturday Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, backed a policy of deporting people to third countries for asylum processing.
In a shock statement ahead of June’s European elections, Ms Von der Leyen’s European People’s Party (EPP) called for ‘a fundamental change in European asylum law’.
The EPP grouping, the largest in the European Parliament, pledged: ‘We want to implement the concept of safe third countries. Anyone applying for asylum in the EU could also be transferred to a safe third country and undergo the asylum process there.’
Mr Sunak responded: ‘I said when I first became Prime Minister that others would recognise a meaningful deterrent is the only way to stop the boats and now even top parties in the EU are following our lead.’
Read more