Record 28,000 Illegal Boat Migrants Land in Britain This Year

DUNGENESS, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 19: Migrant men are aided ashore by members of the R.N.L.I.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

The number of illegal boat migrants that have successfully reached the United Kingdom on Sunday was more than the entire month of December last year, with nearly 28,000 have crossed since the beginning of the year.

An estimated 1,191 illegal migrants crossed the English Channel from the beaches of France so far this month. The Home Office said that 274 arrived on Sunday, more than the 211 that arrived during all of December 2020. The crossings came after 459 arrived on Thursday, and another 358 on Friday.

The latest illegal crossings bring the total number of alien boat arrivals to a record 27,938, according to calculations made by The Times, over three times as many as the 8,420 who arrived during 2020 — the previous annual high.

While traditionally a slower month for illegal migration across the English Channel due to weather, unseasonably warm conditions have allowed the people smuggling trade to continue. On top of those who successfully reached British shores, another 848 migrants were intercepted by French authorities, demonstrating the number of people camped out in Calais waiting for a chance to cross.

Despite Britain agreeing over the Summer to fork over an additional £54 million to the French to step up enforcement against human traffickers and to increase patrols of beaches in Calais, the crisis has only intensified. The French government has also been reluctant to come to any agreement on the return of migrants sailing to Britain from France.

Ultimately, any hope of enforcing borders and saving lives at sea seems remote while negotiations over the Channel remains at a point of blame-game and finger-pointing between Paris and London.

The number of illegal boat migrants that have arrived in the UK so far this year is edging close to predictions made by Brexit leader Nigel Farage in July, who said at the time: “I’ll predict this, I said eight weeks ago that I thought the number that will come will be 20,000, at this current pace it could even be 30,000. It is totally out of control.”

“I have no confidence that Boris Johnson, Priti Patel, or any of them have the guts or the courage to deal with it,” he added.

On top of the record waves of illegals pouring into the country, the number of Afghans claiming asylum in the UK has doubled since the country fell under the control of the Islamist Taliban regime following U.S. President Joe Biden’s disastrous troop withdrawal.

According to figures compiled by the Refugee Council, the number of asylum applications from those claiming to be from Afghanistan between July and September was 1,093, over double the 435 applications recorded in the prior three month period.

The British government evacuated approximately 15,000 people from Afghanistan after the fall of the formerly Western backed government. Home Secretary Priti Patel has also said that the government would look to open up more avenues for Afghan refugees to come to Britain.

Border Force officials have reported that some of the Afghanis arrived at Heathrow airport with forged identity papers or no documentation at all, and even some reported instances of evacuees being on “no fly” lists.

Yet, when pressed by Breitbart London, the Home Office said that it would not reveal the number of airlifted Afghans who are on terror watch lists, despite knowing the exact figure. The government argued that it was not in “public interest” to identify the number of potentially dangerous refugees being brought to Britain.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.