‘As Predicted’: Estimated 1,000 Illegal Migrants Cross English Channel in New Daily Record

DOVER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 09: Migrants are brought into Dover docks by Border Force staff
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Victoria Friedman

Brexit leader Nigel Farage’s prediction appears to have come true after an estimated 1,000 illegal aliens crossed the English Channel on Thursday, reportedly a new daily record.

While Sky News said that the figure of around 1,000 migrants who arrived from France by small boat was officially unconfirmed, the BBC called the figure a “new daily record”, beating the 853 figure that arrived on November 3rd.

On Thursday itself, Mr Farage had said that “it won’t be too long before we see our first 1,0000 day at Dover,” the port town that has become a major processing centre for illegals, who are mostly from Africa and the Middle East and are in the vast majority, young men.

Less than 24 hours later when the Thursday toll was tallied, Farage said: “As predicted, a new record of 1,000 migrants crossed the English Channel in a single day yesterday.”

The new arrivals will put the total for this year so far in excess of 23,000, nearly triple the landings of 2020.

Sky News reports that illegal arrivals were seen not only at Dover, Kent, brought by the UK’s Border Force, but more aliens were seen further along the south-east coast of England being ferried by the lifeboat charity the RNLI arriving at Hastings, East Sussex.

During a segment of Farage on GB News this week, the Brexit leader described the work being undertaken along the 50- to 60- miles of English coastline to pick up the illegals, which included the efforts of the Border Force, RNLI, drones, and spotter planes, as a “vast, military operation every single day”.

A Whitehall source speaking to the BBC accused France of losing control of the situation. Home Secretary Priti Patel has authorised London to send £54 million in British taxpayers’ money to Paris after the country’s interior minister promised to stop all departures from their shores if they had the cash.

Analysis by the BBC suggested that the high numbers may be due to the recent calm and mild conditions, but warned that now as arrival by boat is seen as a successful method to make it to wealthy Britain with its generous welfare state — particularly as no illegal boat migrants this year have been returned to France — more migrants are willing to make the journey.

Home Secretary Patel maintains that proposals for overhauling the immigration system will make it harder for illegal entrants to claim asylum. She is also considering turning the boats back at sea to France, but the government had reportedly received advice that it would lose any legal challenges if she enforces such returns.

Farage, however, has said that the UK must get tough like Australia, whose Operation Sovereign Borders dramatically cut illegal landings by turning the boats back or forcing asylum seekers to be processed in offshore centres.

Otherwise, Farage said on Thursday, “if we don’t deal with this, next summer, the Channel will begin to look a bit like the Mediterranean did back in 2015”.

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