Charities claim Rwanda plans are not deterring crossing of the channel

Refugee charities said the government’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda has done little to deter people from making the perilous journey to the UK, as Channel crossings resumed at the weekend.

A total of 254 people were detected in small boats crossing from France on Sunday after an 11-day pause in such trips.

More people thought to be migrants were taken to Dover yesterday, including children, with reports saying that more than 100 migrants had been brought to shore by the afternoon.

Confirmation of Sunday’s figures from the MOD came after what is believed to have been an 11-day break in activity around the Channel from April 20 to 30, when no crossings were recorded amid reports of strong winds and choppy seas.

The MOD took over control of migrant operations in April, when the government also announced controversial plans to send some of those making the cross-channel journey to Rwanda.

The government’s Nationality and Borders Bill – dubbed the antirefugee Bill by campaigners as it makes it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK illegally and includes powers to process asylum seekers overseas – became law last Thursday.

Refugee organisations said the Bill does “nothing to address the reasons people come”, with one charity saying the majority of migrants it spoke to said the plan will not put them off crossing to the UK.

The Rwanda deal will see the east African nation receive asylum seekers deemed by the UK to be inadmissible, having arrived “illegally” under new immigration rules.

Care4calais said that of the 64 people it surveyed, 87% had heard of the plan and 75% said “it won’t put them off crossing to the UK”.

In a Twitter post, the organisation said: “They have no choice: they’ve fled danger made long, dangerous journeys, and France ‘does not give you security’, as one said.”

The charity branded the Rwanda deal – which Home Secretary Priti Patel has described as a “worldfirst” agreement – as “just another in a long line of deterrence policies announced by this government over the last few years”.

Care4calais said: “Refugees have escaped from the worst horrors in this world.

“When you’re risking your life, what else do you have to lose?

“When someone explains ‘even death wouldn’t stop me’ trying to get to the UK, it’s clear that even the threat of Rwanda won’t change anything.”

Such sentiments were echoed by Pierre-henri Dumont, French National Assembly member for Calais.

He said: “When you leave your country because of flood, because of starvation, because you are not afraid of being hauled and sent back to another country, at least if you have a chance you will try.”

Sunday’s figures mean at least 6,947 people have reached the UK since the start of the year after navigating busy shipping lanes from France in small boats.

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

The longest period without any crossings so far in 2022 was 16 days, between January 27 and February 11.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said there needs to be “an international coordinated criminal response” to tackle the “criminal gangs” that he said are driving the migrant crisis.

Speaking on the campaign trail in Worthing, West Sussex, he said: “I know what can be done if you’ve got teams working together across Europe all the way along those routes, absolutely bearing down on these criminal gangs, and working very closely with the French authorities as well.”

FLEEING: Young people are helped by military personnel after arriving from a boat in Dover, Kent.