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Border Force have braced for 22,000 Channel migrants this year as record numbers make the dangerous crossing.
The estimated figure is triple the 8,000 that made the crossing in 2020, and considerably higher than the 2019 figure of 1,000.
Thousands more are expected to be smuggled into the UK through ports inside lorries, as desperate migrants go to any length to get onto British soil.
Analysis by The Times using previous data suggested numbers of migrants making the crossing could double by October, with another 12,900 by the end of the year.
Nearly 400 migrants were detained by Border Force officers in the last three days alone according to new Home Office figures.
On Wednesday, 219 people in 11 boats were intercepted and 175 were picked up in six incidents on Thursday.
It takes the number of migrants to have been detained after reaching the UK in small boats to 8,840 – with nearly 3,000 arriving so far in July alone.
Meanwhile, migrants have told how smugglers encouraged them to travel to the UK with promises of hotel stays and a coronavirus vaccine.
The number of migrants crossing the Channel between 2019-21 has been increasing year-on-year. The graph above shows how many have crossed each month. The red line for 2021 soars above the lines for previous years, showing the monthly total is now at its highest ever
The 22,000 estimated figure is triple the 8,000 that made the crossing in 2020, and considerably higher than the 2019 figure of 1,000. Pictured, Border Force officials with recently arrived migrants on July 22
Migrants are pictured on an inflatable craft in a busy shipping lane off the coast of Dover
One migrant told the Sun: ‘They told me I’d be taken to a hotel and live there. I was even shown pictures. I was told I’d be jabbed too because Britain had so much of the vaccine they could afford to give it away.’
Figures for 2021 have already broken the record numbers in 2020 when 8,410 were detained.
But deteriorating weather conditions in the English Channel over the next few days including strong winds is expected to dramatically reduce crossing attempts.
Meanwhile, there has been a rise in stowaways since lockdown restrictions were pared-down in April. Before the pandemic there was an average of 10,000 migrants a year caught inside vehicles in British ports.
Last year the figure dropped to 7,000 but some 8,500 are expected by the end of 2021.
So far this month the French coastguard has dealt with 213 attempted and successful trips in dinghies across the Channel, according to The Times.
And more vulnerable people including pregnant women and those with disabilities have been risking the journey.
French patrol crafts have been allowing boats filled with migrants to leave the coast, with sources even suggesting they’re ‘escorting’ dinghies to the edge of British waters.
Officials revealed harsh methods of interception used in the Mediterranean off Libya and Turkey were too dangerous.
French patrol crafts have been allowing boats filled with migrants to leave the coast, with sources even suggesting they’re ‘escorting’ dinghies to the edge of British waters. Pictured, migrants on a dinghy on July 22
A little toddler was held by their hand as they were brought into Britain after landing
An inflatable craft carrying migrant men, women and children crosses the shipping lane
The maritime prefecture at Cherbourg said: ‘All the craft being followed are reported to the British, who take them in charge when they enter their zone of responsibility.’
The French lifeboat service, the SNSM, is called out almost daily to help rescue migrants as risks become greater because of ‘growing vulnerability of the passengers including pregnant women, very young children, even handicapped people’.
On Thursday French authorities had to rescue 11 migrants in one small rubber dinghy after they were spotted in difficulties by the crew of a cross-Channel ferry.
The P&O ferry Spirit of Britain raised the alarm after they saw the stricken inflatable off Calais.
French search and rescue vessels picked up the 11 migrants and brought them back into the harbour at Calais while towing the inflatable behind.
Dan O’Mahoney, Clandestine Channel Threat Commander, said: *’There is an unacceptable rise in dangerous small boat crossings across the channel because of a surge in illegal migration across Europe.
Child migrants wearing children’s lifejackets are seen coming ashore at Dover Marina in Kent
The Border Force arrive to collect occupants of an inflatable craft carrying migrants
The Border Force arrive to collect occupants of an inflatable craft carrying migrants
Priti Patel’s plan to pay France £55m to handle migrants trying to cross the Channel: Explained
Priti Patel has agreed to give France another £54million to stop the growing number of migrants crossing the Channel
Priti Patel has agreed to give France another £54million to stop the growing number of migrants crossing the Channel.
The Home Secretary’s controversial agreement with French interior minister Gerald Darmanin will see policing numbers along the French coast more than double to 200 to cover a wider area.
There will also be an increased use of aerial surveillance, including drones. The two countries agreed to draw up a long-term plan for a ‘smart border’ using technology to identify where crossings are being attempted.
But the deal failed to impress critics, who accuse the French authorities of not doing enough to stop small boats leaving their territorial waters.
With UK support last year, France doubled the number of officers deployed daily on French beaches, improved intelligence sharing and purchased more cutting-edge technology. This resulted in France preventing twice as many crossings so far this year than in the same period in 2020.
However, as French interceptions increased, the Home Office said that organised criminal gangs have changed their tactics, moving further up the French coast, and forcing migrants to take even longer, riskier journeys.
Charities branded the measures inhumane, while refugee rights campaigner Lord Dubs said Miss Patel’s plans were a ‘disservice to this country’s history’.
‘Earlier this week we signed a strengthened agreement with our French counterparts to increase police patrols on French beaches and enhance intelligence sharing.
This joint work has already prevented over 7,500 migrants enter the UK – nearly treble the number for the same period in 2020.
‘The Government continues to take steps to tackle the unacceptable problem of illegal migration through the Nationality & Borders Bill which will protect lives and break this cycle of illegal crossings.
‘The Government is also continuing to return those with no legal right to remain in the UK.’
People-smugglers have made use of the continuing good weather this week.
Scenes of scores of migrants arriving in Border Force boats has become a common sight throughout July.
There have been children too young to walk that have been had to be carried to the harbour by officials.
A record-breaking number of people have crossed the Channel already this year, with at least 8,452 people having made the trip, passing the total for all of 2020.
The fallout comes after the Government announced it will send France a further £54.2million to help stem the flow of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats.
The Home Office said the money would be spent on doubling the numbers of police patrolling France’s northern beaches, improving intelligence sharing and on new technology to target people smugglers.
To tackle this the French have deployed 200 officers to march along an 85-mile stretch of coast between Boulogne and Dieppe. If they worked 24 hours a day, this works out at two policemen per mile – but critics say realistically it is only one.
Home Secretary Priti Patel was also slammed after it emerged whole hotels are being booked up to house migrants. It means those looking to get married or take a holiday there could struggle to guarantee spaces.
The Home Office is tempting hoteliers with large wads of cash for rooms for months, according to the Sun.
A source told the newspaper: ‘You have to remember the industry has been devastated by Covid.
‘There have been no paying guests for months.
‘For a lot of hotels, it’s a chance to make guaranteed money for weeks, if not months. You have to be brave not to take up that offer.’
Source: Daily Mail
