More than 100 migrants cross English Channel after French Navy pick up one man trying to make the journey in a KAYAK as it emerges traffickers won't get life sentences

  • Priti Patel praised Nationality and Borders Act when it came into force last week to clamp down on trafficking
  • Law includes tougher sentencing. Home Office says anyone caught piloting a boat could face life behind bars 
  • But legal experts and CPS guidance suggests 'two or three years in prison' would be more appropriate
  • One insider said: 'The maximum sentence of life has been briefed in press releases to look like the government is being tough, in the knowledge that once these cases go before the court no one will get life'

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More than 100 migrants crossed the English Channel by small boat today after a man was rescued by the French Navy in a kayak trying to make the 21-mile journey.

The first group of between 30 and 40 people was brought into Dover, Kent on board Border Force vessel Ranger shortly before 11am.

UK officials could be seen waiting at the harbour to escort an older woman off the boat before helping her into a wheelchair.

Among the latest arrivals, who were reportedly intercepted from two dinghies, were a small number of women and children.

A female Border Force official held the hands of a toddler and primary-school aged girl as they disembarked the boat.

They were closely followed by a slightly older boy before being passed into the care of soldiers dressed in camouflage fatigues and high-vis vests.

After the women and children had been escorted off the vessel, the remaining men were led along the gangway for processing by UK officials.

Around 3pm Border Force cutter Hurricane brought dozens more migrants into the harbour.

The mostly male group were helped off the boat by UK officials dressed in white hazmat suits and masks.

One woman, who was accompanied by two small children, could be seen carrying her belongings in a small clutch bag while a Border Force worker carried her toddler along the walkway.

While the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is yet to confirm the official number of migrant crossings for today, at least 100 people were intercepted in around five small boats.

It comes as Priti Patel's vow to hand life jail terms to people smugglers caught piloting a dinghy of migrants across the Channel was shot down.

A young girl is carried by a member of the military as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover today as legal experts claimed the Home Secretary's plans for life sentences for dinghy drivers will fall short

The child was then helped to remove his life jacket as he arrived in Britain after crossing the Channel as part of a group of 30

The child was then helped to remove his life jacket as he arrived in Britain after crossing the Channel as part of a group of 30

Members of Border Force escorted 30 migrants back to Dover today, including this woman in a wheelchair, after they were picked up by the English Channel Border Force. More than 3,000 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK in June - the highest monthly total this year

Migrants were given blankets and supported by Border Force officials as they reached Dover this morning (pictured)

Migrants were given blankets and supported by Border Force officials as they reached Dover this morning (pictured)

A total of 12,700 people have made the treacherous journey across the 21-mile Dover Straits in 378 boats so far this year

A total of 12,700 people have made the treacherous journey across the 21-mile Dover Straits in 378 boats so far this year

Tougher sentences under the Nationality and Borders Act increased the maximum jail term for 'assisting unlawful immigration' from 14 years to life under new measures which came into force last week.

The change in the law came as more than 3,000 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK in June - the highest monthly total this year - with 100 people crossing today alone.

But in another blow to the Home Secretary's vow to shut down cross-Channel trafficking - after her Rwanda plan failed to take off last month - prosecution guidelines drawn up by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that that sentences of between two or three years in prison 'will be appropriate for pilots of small boats with their "hand on the tiller"." 

If the sentence is two to three years, it could mean that the dinghy pilots could be out in a year to 18 months if they behave well in prison. 

UK has given £310m to Strasbourg body that blocked Rwanda flight... while officials repeatedly reject requests to reveal judge's identity 

Britain is spending millions of pounds a year on the human rights body whose judges grounded Priti Patel’s Rwanda asylum flight.

The UK Government is one of the largest financial contributors to the Council of Europe, whose 46 members include the dictatorship of Azerbaijan.

The council, which has received £310million from Britain over the past decade, is aimed at promoting democracy and the rule of law. But its human rights tsar Dunja Mijatovic has criticised Home Secretary Miss Patel over her attempts to stop migrants crossing the Channel.

She has urged British MPs to ‘reject proposals that enable offshoring’ and called for more ‘safe and legal routes’ to claim asylum. Miss Mijatovic has also claimed that the Government’s border policy is ‘repressive’. The council, which receives £400million in funding annually, bankrolls the European Court of Human Rights to the tune of £64million a year.

Officials at the Strasbourg court have repeatedly rejected the Daily Mail’s requests to reveal the identity of the judge who stopped asylum seekers being sent to Africa. They have only confirmed the decision was made either by Hungary’s Peter Paczolay or Carlo Ranzoni, a Swiss jurist representing Liechtenstein.

The injunction, which said deportees faced ‘real risk of irreversible harm’, prevents migrants being sent to Rwanda until three weeks after British judges issue a final decision on the legality of the policy.

 

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The conclusion, in a judgment from the Court of Appeal, led to one legal expert telling The Independent: 'Nobody is going to be getting anywhere near life', adding: 'The maximum sentence of life has been briefed in press releases to look like the government is being tough, in the knowledge that once these cases go before the court no one will get life'. 

The Home Office has insisted that the change in the law will land tougher sentences. MailOnline has asked the Government department to comment.

In a statement released when the laws came into effect on Tuesday, a spokesman said: 'Anyone caught piloting a boat carrying migrants in the Channel could face life behind bars from today, as part of the biggest overhaul of the asylum system in decades.'

Priti Patel added: 'These new measures will enable us to crack down on abuse of the system and the evil people smugglers, who will now be subject to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment as a result of this law coming into force.'  

This comes after the French regional operational surveillance and rescue centre (CROSS) in Griz-Nez identified a boat in difficulty off the coast of Dunkirk on Friday.

The French Navy patrol boat Flamant rescued a stranded man in a kayak and dropped him off at the port of Dunkirk.

Once back at the quay, he was taken care of by the border police.

The policy will apply to migrants seen taking the tiller of dinghies and other small boats from northern France.

Military and civilian drones in use over the Channel already capture high-definition video images to use as evidence in court.

The Act, passed by Parliament in April, also introduces a new 'twin-track' asylum system which will grant fewer rights to those who arrive by illegal routes, even if they are eventually found to have a legitimate claim to refugee status.

Under other measures the Home Office will be able to impose visa penalties on citizens of countries which refuse to take back their own nationals.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: 'This is one of the most crucial milestones in delivering on our promise to the British public to take back control of our borders.

'While there is no single solution to the global migration crisis, these reforms which come into effect today play a vital role in overhauling the broken asylum system as we put our New Plan for Immigration into action.'

She added: 'We will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that we offer protection and sanctuary to those in genuine need, but these new measures will enable us to crack down on abuse of the system and the evil people-smugglers, who will now be subject to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment as a result of this law coming into force.'

The Act also increases the maximum penalty for illegally entering the UK or overstaying a visa from six months to four years' imprisonment.  And it allows foreign national offenders who are in jail to be removed from the UK up to 12 months before the end of their sentence.

Some 3,136 made the crossing on 76 boats in June , with journeys taking place on 19 of those days, according to PA news agency analysis of government figures.

It comes two and a half months after Home Secretary Priti Patel announced plans to send migrants to Rwanda in a bid to deter people from making the crossing.

Of the 12,690 people who made the journey in the first half of this year, the second highest month for crossings was 3,074 in March.

Among the latest arrivals, who were reportedly intercepted from two dinghies, were a small number of women and children

Among the latest arrivals, who were reportedly intercepted from two dinghies, were a small number of women and children

A man is helped by military personnel as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent

A man is helped by military personnel as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent

A slightly older boy was passed into the care of soldiers dressed in camouflage fatigues and high-vis vests

A slightly older boy was passed into the care of soldiers dressed in camouflage fatigues and high-vis vests

Priti Patel, pictured in the Commons last week, told MPs that 'these new measures will enable us to crack down on abuse of the system and the evil people-smugglers'

Priti Patel, pictured in the Commons last week, told MPs that 'these new measures will enable us to crack down on abuse of the system and the evil people-smugglers'

After navigating busy shipping lanes from France in small boats such as dinghies, 2,871 made the crossing in May, 2, 143 in April, 1,322 in January and 144 in February, according to Home Office figures for the first quarter of the year and subsequent data collected by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The highest month on record since 2018 was for 6,971 crossings in November 2021.

The total for 2022 so far is more than five times the amount recorded between January and June 2020 (2,493) and more than double the six-month tally for the first half of last year (5,917).

Crossings continued on Thursday with 94 people arriving in Dover, Kent, in two boats. But a change in the weather saw activity slow on Friday.

On April 14 Miss Patel signed what she described as a ‘world-first’ agreement with Rwanda, which will see the east African nation receive asylum seekers deemed by the UK to have arrived ‘illegally’ and therefore inadmissible under new immigration rules.

But the first deportation flight - due to take off on June 14 - was grounded amid legal challenges.

The figures indicate 51,824 people have made the crossing since 2018.