186 More Migrants Land in Britain as Conservatives Pledge Immigration Reform Yet Again

Migrants are helped ashore from a Border Force vessel after crossing the Straits of Dover
BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

Nearly 200 illegal migrants landed on British soil on the same day that the Queen’s Speech outlined the government’s latest proposals to deal with the growing crisis in the English Channel.

In total, 186 boat migrants were brought ashore on Tuesday, marking the second-highest number for the year.

So far this year, some 2,744 people have illegally reached Britain by travelling across the Channel from France on small boats, according to the Daily Mail.

The paper also said that May is already on track to be the busiest month since the United Kingdom’s official departure from the European Union, with 636 landings in the first 12 days of the month alone.

The number of illegals who have been recorded to have reached Britain this year has already surpassed the total for the entire year of 2019, which saw 1,890 arrive. Projections have estimated that if the current pace continues, then up to 25,000 may land in 2021 — three times the previous record of 8,100 set last year.

The Home Office claimed that French authorities managed to stop an additional 96 migrants crossing in seven different boats on Tuesday.

The latest crossings came as the government announced its supposed intention to reform the country’s immigration system and step up border controls.

“Measures will be brought forward to establish a fairer immigration system that strengthens the United Kingdom’s borders and deters criminals who facilitate dangerous and illegal journeys,” Queen Elizabeth II said in the Queen’s Speech on Tuesday.

One of the new proposals to fix Britain’s “broken” asylum system will be to prohibit failed asylum seekers from appealing for judicial review of their case in the hopes of speeding up deportations, according to The Times.

The proposed legislation would combat what ministers claimed are “spurious legal challenges” at the High Court by empowering lower courts to have the final say on immigration cases.

The government said that asylum seekers take up “a disproportionate amount of judicial time”, adding that judicial reviews “which stand hardly any chance of success, were found to have led to delays with the swift processing of immigration and asylum cases, with last-minute challenges often made to frustrate the removal of people with no right to be in this country”.

Writing exclusively for Breitbart London on Tuesday, Migration Watch UK chairman Alp Mehmet cast doubt on whether Home Secretary Priti Patel will be able to reign in illegal migration.

Mehmet said that Migration Watch “welcomed proposals from the current Home Secretary, Priti Patel, to tackle illegal immigration and to get a grip of the abuse of the asylum system in March. We have responded to her proposals and proposed additional measures.”

“Priti Patel is certainly willing and determined enough, with an able lieutenant in Chris Philp, but given the steadily worsening figures I have serious doubts that she will be able to make much headway without help from the PM, her Cabinet colleagues and indeed Parliament,” he warned, adding: “I do hope I am wrong.”

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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