Risk of being sent to Rwanda fails to halt Channel crossings

More than 350 migrants have crossed the English Channel from France to Dover after an apparent pause of 11 days.

About 100 people were seen arriving in Kent, south-east England, yesterday on rescue vessels run by the UK Home Office’s border security force, the BBC reported.

A further 254 were rescued on Sunday, the Ministry of Defence has said.

They were the first migrants found on the waterway since a UK plan to send asylum seekers to Africa was announced. The hiatus in crossing attempts coincided with poor weather and choppy seas.

The Ministry of Defence took control of migrant operations in April when the government revealed plans to deport some of those making the cross-Channel trip, to Rwanda.

There appeared to have been an 11-day lull in activity on the Channel, from April 20 to 30.

No crossings were detected during that period.

Two gaps without crossings of 16 and 13 days were recorded this year, before the Rwanda deal was announced.

Ministry of Defence data on daily detected border crossings is released retrospectively and the official figure for yesterday, a public holiday in England, has not yet been confirmed.

“The rise in dangerous Channel crossings is unacceptable. Not only are they an overt abuse of our immigration laws but they also impact on the UK taxpayer, risk lives and our ability to help refugees come to the UK via safe and legal routes,” a government representative said.

The Nationality and Borders Bill, which became law on Thursday, makes it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK illegally and includes powers to process applications for asylum abroad.

Last month, the UK Home Secretary Priti Patel signed what she described as a “worldfirst” agreement with Rwanda.

Under the deal, the African nation will receive asylum seekers deemed by the UK to be inadmissible, having arrived “illegally” under new immigration rules. But human rights campaigners have criticised the proposal and it is already facing legal challenges.

Since the start of this year, at least 6,693 people have reached Britain after navigating busy shipping lanes from France in small boats, data compiled by the Press Association shows.

That is more than three times the number recorded this time last year (2,004) and more than six times the figure for the same period in 2020 (1,006).

No migrant crossings were detected between January 27 and February 11 this year, PA analysis of British government figures indicates.