More than 4,000 migrants have crossed Channel to UK in 2020
MORE than 4,000 migrants have reached the UK in 2020 by crossing the English Channel in small boats.
Families with young children have been among hundreds of people arriving in Dover in the last few days as the political row over the crisis has intensified.
While South East England basked in roasting sunshine on Saturday, another 151 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the dangerous Dover Strait.
The Home Office has officially asked the Royal Navy for help and a former Royal Marine has been appointed “clandestine Channel threat commander”.
As numbers of migrants attempting the perilous sea journey continue to rise, the Government has been accused of being “increasingly chaotic” in its handling of the crisis.
More migrants reached the UK yesterday, with Border Force cutter Seeker roaming British waters. Up to 12 people were seen being brought ashore in Dover earlier yesterday morning aboard patrol boat Speedwell.
The coastguard said it is co-ordinating search and rescue efforts in response to “a number of incidents” off the coast of Kent.
After a surge in crossings in the latter part of last week, the number of migrants who have reached the UK in 2020 in small boats is now more than 4,100, analysis by the PA news agency shows. So far in August more than 650 have successfully reached British shores via the dangerous Channel route. Most came between Thursday and Saturday, with at least 532 migrants arriving in the UK.
This comes despite Home Secretary Priti Patel’s vow last year that the crossings would have become an “infrequent phenomenon” by now.
On Saturday, it was announced that Ms Patel has tasked former Royal Marine Dan O’mahoney with delivering her ambition of making the English Channel “unviable” for migrants in small boats.
Bridget Chapman, spokeswoman for the Kent Refugee Action Network, said: “The Government’s handling of this issue is becoming increasingly chaotic, with elements of sabre-rattling.
“Nothing they have done so far has worked.”