France Claims Number of Rescued Migrants in English Channel Tripled in 2021

AT SEA, ENGLAND - JULY 22: An inflatable craft carrying migrant men, women and children cr
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

French authorities have claimed that the number of migrants rescued by French authorities after shipwrecks in the English Channel tripled in 2021 to over a thousand.

The French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII) stated Monday that French authorities had rescued over a thousand migrants shipwrecked in the English Channel stating, “The number of people shipwrecked off Calais and sheltered was 1,002 in 2021,” compared to 341 in 2020, an increase of 194%.”

The surge of rescues comes after the English Channel migrant route saw a record number of 28,000 migrants successfully crossing from France to the southern English coast to reach the United Kingdom.

According to a report from the broadcaster 20 Minutes, the number of migrants living in makeshift camps along the French northern coast and were referred to France’s national reception system has also increased by 239 per cent from 9,172 in 2020 to 31,103 in 2021.

A total of  9,779 accommodation places were offered by the OFII in 2021 and  6,950 migrants were given accommodation, mainly in the northern Hauts-de-France region.

Didier Leschi, director-general of OFII commented on the ongoing situation stating that the rescues and the care of migrants are a “financial effort that is constantly increasing.”

Last week, Brexit leader Nigel Farage predicted that the number of migrants crossing from France to the UK could increase even further this year, after nearly accurately predicting the number of arrivals for 2021 in June.

According to Farage, the number of migrant arrivals could break records yet again and swell to as many as 60,000 by the end of 2022.

“It doesn’t matter what penalty you put on the traffickers if the incentive is there for those that want to come and pay their 3-5,000 euros — whatever the going rate is at the time — they’ll go on coming,” Farage said and claimed prime Minister Boris Johnson doesn’t have “the guts” to shut down the migrant route.

As the number of migrants crossing from France greatly increased last year, so did the number claiming to be children but were caught lying. A total of 1,118 migrants were found to have lied about their age during the period from January to September of 201, triple the number from the prior year.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com

 

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