‘Some Things Never Change’: Over 100 Illegal Boat Migrants Brought Ashore in Britain Despite Brexit

DOVER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 22: Migrants on board HMC Seeker after being intercepted in the
Luke Dray/Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage said “some things never change” as over 100 illegal boat migrants were brought ashore by the British Border Force on Saturday.

The Home Office confirmed that 103 illegal aliens successfully crossed the English Channel from France, despite the UK formally leaving the European Union earlier this month.

French authorities are said to have stopped another 29 migrants before they could enter British territorial waters, according to the local news outlet Kent Online.

A spokesman for the Home Office said: “We will provide more support for those genuinely fleeing persecution and we will transform the way we deal with asylum claims made by those who have come here illegally, and make it easier to return those who don’t need our protection.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel has promised to “crack down on illegal immigration and reform the broken asylum system” after the UK left the European Union. But it is unclear what steps the government will take to shut down the growing migrant crisis.

Brexit leader Nigel Farage released footage purporting to show the illegal migrants being brought ashore at the Port of Dover, remarking on social media: “100 people crossed the Channel illegally in small boats today. Some things never change.”

Following Brexit, the UK announced that it would no longer be allowing migrants caught at sea to apply for asylum in the country. However, the government has not outlined how Britain will be able to deport the migrants.

The UK is no longer bound by the European Union’s asylum regime, also known as the Dublin III Regulation, which mandates that migrants claim asylum in the first safe country they step foot in.

So far the government has failed to secure a deal with the EU or any individual member state to deport failed asylum seekers and has not explained how migrants will be sent back to safe countries such as France.

Immigration minister Chris Philp said on Saturday: “People should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach and not risk their lives making a dangerous and illegally-facilitated crossing.”

Last year, at least 8,417 illegal migrants were recorded landing in the UK, over four times than were documented in 2019, when 1,890 illegal migrants made the perilous journey.

Nigel Farage has predicted that the “cross-Channel migrant route will be as busy as it was last year”, warning that it is likely that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government will sell the UK “down the river on immigration”.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here: @KurtZindulka

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