Another 200 small boat migrants made it to the UK on Thursday, the sixth straight day of illegal crossings in a week, GB News can reveal.
The latest arrivals take the total number of Channel migrants to reach UK waters since Saturday to 1,578.
It marks the worst start to the year for migrant crossings since the small boat crisis began in 2016, with 3.634 having now reached the UK since January 1.
At this point last year, 3,358 had made the illegal journey from France.
Migrants arriving on Border Force vessel in Dover
GB NEWS
In 2022, when a record 45,000 migrants crossed the Channel, just 2,212 had arrived by this point.
Three small boats crossed today, before weather conditions deteriorated around mid-morning and winds and waves increased in the Channel.
However, there is likely to be little respite for the Government’s new Border Security Command, with conditions set to improve again later on Friday, and the sea state expected to remain calm until at least Monday.
The surge in small boat arrivals has raised fresh questions over the Government’s ‘smah the gangs’ policy and brought demands for Labour to find a deterrent similar to the previous Government’s Rwanda scheme.
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Three small boats crossed today, before weather conditions deteriorated
GB NEWS
Sir Keir Starmer scraped the Rwanda scheme on his first day in office, branding the agreement “a gimmick”.
Instead, Labour announced the creation of a new Border Security Command, and diverted millions of pounds from the Rwanda programme to help boost a law enforcement approach to the crisis.
That led to an increase in enforcement action against suspected people smuggling gangs.
But eight months on, the focus on law enforcement has not led to any slowdown in the number of migrants making the illegal journey.
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A Home Office spokesman said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay.
“We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.”