Annual Channel migrant total to pass 30,000 as 617 cross in a day

THE number of illegal migrants reaching Britain in small boats is to top 30,000 this weekend after hundreds more made the perilous Channel crossing.

The Ministry of Defence said 617 people made the journey in 14 boats on Thursday, taking the provisional total for the year to 29,700.

If the weather remains fair over the weekend, the total who have arrived on the shores of Kent this year is likely to pass the 30,000 mark today.

Earlier this week, the number who have arrived illegally by sea this year overtook the total for all of 2021. Last year’s figure of 28,526 was a record.

Among the arrivals this week were 38 who were in the sea for almost an hour after their dinghy rapidly deflated in UK waters. Britain launched a rescue operation and no deaths were reported.

In the five months since Priti Patel, the then Home Secretary, announced plans to send migrants to Rwanda to try to deter illegal Channel crossings, 23,293 have made the journey to the UK.