Number of migrants trying to reach UK soars as 166 detained in one day
MORE people have crossed the Channel illegally and reached Britain in the first half of this year than in the whole of 2019, as a record 166 migrants were picked up in one day.
Young children, teenagers and women were seen being processed by immigration officials at Dover after Border Force, the Coast Guard, the RNLI and the French navy dealt with a flotilla of around nine vessels on Wednesday morning.
One boat used by smugglers to ferry people across the busy shipping lane was thought to be 30ft long and carrying as many as 60 people. Home Office sources said that the vessel was first spotted just off the French coastline, but was shepherded by its Navy all the way to English waters.
“British officials are raising this as a matter of urgency with the French government. The Home Secretary is not impressed,” said the source. So far this year, 1,929 migrants have reached the UK in this way, compared to 1,890 for the whole of 2019.
The sharp rise in numbers comes as diplomats in Brussels warned that European Union governments will refuse to negotiate an agreement to take back illegal migrants crossing the Channel to Britain if the UK does not back down in the Brexit trade talks.
Negotiations are deadlocked over fishing, level playing field guarantees, the future role of the European Court of Justice and Britain’s refusal to promise to stay in the European Convention of Human Rights. By the end of the year, Britain will not be locked into the Dublin agreement, which makes the EU country where any migrant first applies for asylum responsible for processing the claim.
British negotiators have put two replacement agreements on the table. One would allow the swift return of illegal migrants who have arrived in the UK from the EU. The other allows unaccompanied migrant children to be reunited with families in either the UK or EU.
EU diplomats warned that Brussels was under no obligation to negotiate the agreements because they were not part of Michel Barnier’s mandate or the political declaration setting out the goals of the negotiations.
They pointed out the EU had leverage over Britain on migration because more illegal migrants transited through the bloc with the goal of reaching the UK than vice versa. “Turning the Channel into the Mediterranean might not be in most states’ interests,” one EU diplomat said, “but at this stage of the negotiations most member states do not see an immediate interest for the EU to discuss these issues.”
Historically, the vast majority of migrants in small boats have been adult males from Iran and Iraq, but recently there has been a rise in the number of Africans and children, as more traditional smuggling routes – in lorries and cars – have slowed down because of coronavirus.
Last month, a record 741 people made the dangerous crossing, while 559 did the same in April. A total of 1,562 people have arrived since lockdown on March 23. Only 155 migrants who arrived on small boats between January 2019 and early April 2020 were returned to France despite about 2,500 detected arrivals.
Critics including Nigel Farage have accused the Government of not acting quickly enough. “If the UK does not act, there will be an invasion of people this summer, and there are likely to be many casualties,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “In order to deter people, there is only one thing the Government can do. There needs to be a clear message that anyone who comes by this route will not be allowed to stay.”
This week, Tony Abbott, Australia’s former prime minister, wrote in The Daily Telegraph: “As long as ‘to arrive is to remain’, people smugglers will have a business model and those countries that lack the will to say ‘no’ are at risk of peaceful invasion.”
‘There is one thing the Government can do – give a clear message that anyone who comes by this route will not be allowed to stay’