15,000 Illegal Boat Migrants Reach Britain This Year, Double Last Year’s Record Pace

DOVER, ENGLAND - JULY 15: Migrants are brought into the port of Dover after being intercep
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

The UK has seen over 15,000 illegal boat migrants land on its shores so far this year after another 100 aliens arrived on Tuesday.

The furious pace of illegal migration facilitated by people smugglers operating on both sides of the English Channel has doubled that seen during the record year of 2021 when 7,735 arrived by this point in the year, compared to 15,107 this year, according to calculations made by the Daily Mail.

The rate of illegal migration across the heavily trafficked waterway means that the country is on pace to see over 60,000 aliens brought ashore this year, compared to 28,526 in 2021, 8,466 in 2020, 1,843 in 2019 and 299 in 2018.

With the warm weather comes calmer conditions in the English Channel and therefore it is likely that the number of crossings will only continue to rise. The government was warned earlier that as many as 65,000 could land this year, however, others, including former Director-General of UK Border Force, Tony Smith, have predicted that up to 100,000 could reach Britain by the end of the year.

The latest crossings come one day after the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee claimed that the scheme to slow down illegal migration by deporting those who arrive by boat to Rwanda has failed to act as a deterrent, with MPs finding that more boats crossed after the announcement was made. However, this has also coincided with warmer weather and MPs noted that people smuggling gangs may be trying to get across as many migrants before the policy is put in place.

Indeed, the Rwanda deportation scheme has effectively been put on hold until a new government comes into power and replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson in September.

The plan was thrown into question in June when a flight was blocked by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which the United Kingdom is still subject to as it is technically a separate institution from the European Union (EU) and therefore unaffected by Brexit.

It is currently unclear what stance the next Prime Minister will take on illegal migration, however, the only Tory leader candidate to have committed to removing the UK from the ECHR, Attorney General Suella Braverman was blocked by other Conservative MPs from reaching the final round of voting in which the membership of the party actually gets a chance to voice their opinion.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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