Britain's failure to remove illegal migrants is fueling 'dangerous' cross-Channel attempts

Just six per cent of migrants arriving in small boats are returned to the EU, fueling a belief that reaching Britain offers a permanent home

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Migrant child escorted after cross-Channel journey

Britain has become a magnet for asylum-seekers fueling record numbers crossing the Channel, says a new study that reveals the number being returned has halved in four years.  

The research by Migration Watch UK says the knowledge that migrants are unlikely to be sent back to another EU country or removed even if their asylum application fails is driving the surge in boats making the perilous crossing.  

More than 3,200 migrants have successfully made the crossing since 2018 with the number more than doubling in the first two months of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019.  

"The biggest incentive for those attempting dangerous Channel crossings is the knowledge that being picked up by a British Border Force vessel or managing to set foot on British soil provides a very good chance of a permanent stay in the UK," said the report.  

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. That represents six per cent of the total.  

“The collapse in removals of those with no right to be here, including failed asylum seekers, is part of a worsening paralysis of enforcement which is spurring more trips,” said Migration Watch.    

The report comes only a day after Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, urged the French to back a new crackdown to enable the UK to return Channel migrants to France even if they are caught in British waters.

The Home Secretary who held talks on Wednesday with her French counterpart Christophe Castaner, the French interior minister, is also seeking to renegotiate an international agreement that would enable Britain to return more asylum-seekers who land in the UK.  

The agreement, known as the Dublin regulations, makes the first country to receive an asylum seeker responsible for processing the claim, which in theory means others can return the migrant to them.  

Migration Watch said the figures showed the number of illegal migrants removed from Britain under the Dublin agreement to other EU countries has halved in four years from 510 in 2015 to 263 in 2019.  

The number of migrants who came into the UK under Dublin Regulation was also nearly six times the number sent back to other countries in 2018, according to the study.  

Migration Watch also pointed to a sharp decline in the number of failed asylum seekers being removed the UK, from just over 12,000 in 2004 to 2,000 in 2018. Of those, fewer than 40 per cent were known to have left.  

"The Home Office response has been beset by a range of problems, not least of which is the knowledge that those claiming asylum in the UK are unlikely to be removed, even if their asylum claim is rejected,” said the report.  

“The Government should use the opportunity presented by Brexit to either renegotiate, if not withdraw, from the EU’s Dublin Regulation while significantly increasing the number of other removals. Ultimately, it would also be in French interests to prevent such departures.”  

Migration Watch said the perception that reaching the UK offered a permanent home needed to be “neutralised by an agreement between the UK and French governments that anyone intercepted wherever in the Channel or on reaching UK shores will be returned immediately to France where any application for asylum could be made.   

“The UK could undertake to contribute while applicants await a decision. In the event of asylum being refused, the UK could also contribute to the cost of repatriation.”

A Home Office Spokesperson said: “We are using all the skills of Border Force, the National Crime Agency, Immigration Enforcement and French law enforcement to dismantle and arrest the criminal gangs who trade in people smuggling. 

“Since 1 April French police have stopped over 200 migrants from risking their lives seeking to get to the UK using a small boat.

“We will use all necessary resources to track down and return any individual who tries to evade border restrictions and live in the UK illegally.”

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