Channel migrant crossings have more than doubled as UK crackdown looms

The former Border Force head warned smugglers would be exploiting the publicity over the Home Secretary’s tougher stance on asylum

A young family amongst a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, by Border Force officers following a small boat incident in the Channel. Home Secretary Priti Patel has said she will make "no apology" for tougher immigration rules as she announces "the biggest overhaul of the UK's asylum system in decades". Ms Patel's new plan for immigration, detailing how the Government intends to deal with people entering the UK "illegally", will be set out today. Picture date: Wednesday March 24, 2021. PA Photo. See PA story POLITICS Immigration. Photo credit should read: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire
A young family among a group of people thought to be migrants are brought into Dover by Border Force officers following a small boat incident in the Channel. Home Secretary Priti Patel has said she will make 'no apology' for tougher immigration rules Credit: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

The number of migrants crossing the English Channel is more than double last year’s total for the first quarter, new figures show, as a former Border Force chief warned smugglers are accelerating the trade before Priti Patel’s coming asylum crackdown.

The number crossing in small boats to England has hit a record of nearly 1,400 for the first three months of the year, which would put the total on course for 20,000 for 2021 unless the trend can be reversed.

More than 140 migrants, including babies, reached the UK on Tuesday, the second highest total for a single day this year after the 183 that made it in six boats to the UK last week. At least five boats were intercepted by Border Force and brought into Dover harbour with the migrants.

That means some 1,400 have crossed the Channel this year, two and half times the rate of 2020’s 514 for the first three months of the year. On current trends that would mean migrant numbers would easily surpass the record 8,713 last year.

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Tony Smith, former director general of the Border Force, warned that smugglers would be exploiting the publicity over the Home Secretary’s crackdown on asylum last week to tell migrant they needed to cross in order to beat the new measures.

“There will be an acceleration in the activity to get in under the wire before the Government does whatever it is going to do,” Mr Smith told The Telegraph.

Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: “More than double the number have crossed this year as came during January to March 2020.

“These dangerous crossings will continue and go on increasing until it is made abundantly clear that the pathway to entering the UK illegally in order to claim asylum is closed.”

It comes just a week after Priti Patel announced plans to deny illegal migrants the right to settle in the UK even if they are granted asylum, a move designed to crush people-smuggling.

The Home Secretary is proposing that those who get asylum will only be granted "temporary protection status", which means they will be regularly reassessed for removal from the UK, have limited family reunion rights, and no access to benefits unless destitute.

Only those who come to the UK through legitimate routes – via official Government refugee schemes from war zones or to escape persecution – will be entitled to indefinite leave to remain.

The twin-track approach is designed to "break the people-smugglers' business model" as anyone they bring illegally into the UK will never enjoy citizenship and will only ever be a "temporary" member of British society at risk of removal at least every 30 months. 

It came as Ms Patel revealed 8,700 migrants (most from Channel crossings) are currently being accommodated in nearly 90 different hotels across the UK.

Contingency accommodation for asylum seekers has cost the Home Office £258 million, she disclosed in a letter to the Home Affairs Committee.

She said Napier Barracks will continue to be used to house asylum seekers, and the Home Office is exploring the possibility of using a site on Ministry of Defence land in Barton Stacey in Hampshire.

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