Nearly 570 Boat Migrants Land in UK in Four Days, Highest Number of 336 Land in One Day

DOVER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 22: Border Force officials unload migrants, that have been inte
Luke Dray/Getty Images
Victoria Friedman

The Home Office has confirmed that 568 illegals crossed the English Channel in small boats to reach Britain in just four days.

A total of 336 people in 19 boats crossed the channel from France on Friday, the highest figure for a single day so far this year. Another 144 made the same journey in seven boats the following day.

On Sunday, 17 illegals came into British territory in one boat, while authorities intercepted three boats bringing 71 illegal aliens on Monday, according to the BBC.

BBC Radio 4’s Today programme reported that the British government had given Paris millions of pounds to step up patrols along the shores of northern France, from where the vast majority of illegals depart, but the numbers keep growing. The broadcaster noted that so far this year, 3,500 illegal aliens have crossed by boat — more than double the number for the first five months of 2020. The number of crossings is likely to increase as the summer weather approaches.

The staggering number of landings comes despite the UK government’s pledge to crack down on illegal migration and refuse refugee status to asylum seekers who illegally entered the UK after having travelled through Europe.

The British government wants to return migrants to safe EU countries, with reports last month showing that some 1,500 asylum seekers who entered the country illegally could be told to go back to the last European country they were in. However, post-Brexit, there is no mechanism in place to do so. But talks are ongoing between London and several other EU member-states on bilateral migrant returns arrangements.

Pro-migration activists have complained that the new rules would unfairly affect migrant women and children. Beth Gardiner-Smith, CEO of the refugee NGO Safe Passage, told Today that two-in-three women and children who came to the UK via illegal routes but would have formerly been granted refugee status would, under the new rules, have their asylum claim rejected. Ms Gardiner-Smith then claimed that the government’s plan is “inhumane and fundamentally not who we are [as a country]”.

Responding to the remarks, Brexit leader Nigel Farage — who last year exposed the growing English Channel migrant crisis that the mainstream media was reluctant to cover — said: “BBC Radio 4 just did a piece on the cross-Channel illegal migrants, discussing women and children’s rights.

“No mention of the fact that a large majority are fit young men.

“Over 300 people came last Friday alone, this is worse than ever.”

The Brexit leader subsequently shared footage he claimed to show even more migrant boats arriving on Tuesday.

Saturday saw protests at the port of Dover in England, a major landing point for illegals and government officials bringing them ashore, with demonstrators calling for an end to the “invasion”.

Last month, Nigel Farage predicted that up to 20,000 illegals could land on Britain’s shores in 2021, despite the rhetoric from Home Secretary Priti Patel or the government.

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