This year, the number of illegal immigrants arriving in the UK by small boat across the English Channel has tripled in total in 2020.
At least 886 people have successfully arrived in the UK on Saturday, the Home Office confirmed on Monday. According to official data available from PA News Agency, this brings the total annual to over 25,600.
The number of illegal immigrants arriving through the channel in 2021 is now more than three times that of 2020, when 8,417 people crossed the Dover Strait.
A home office spokesman said, “The British public has seen enough people to die on the channel while ruthless criminal organizations benefit from their misery. Our new immigration plan. Fixes a broken system that encourages immigrants to make this deadly journey. “
The new immigration plan, announced in March, aimed to make it more difficult for immigrants entering the UK to stay illegally in the UK.
In July, the United Kingdom and France announced an agreement on addressing this issue. Under this agreement, Britain will pay France £ 54 million ($ 75 million), more than double the number of police patrol the beaches of France.
This year’s numbers continue to exceed the previous year’s, even though the government has promised to stop the flow of small boats.
Immigration Minister Tom Pursglove told MP last week that only five illegal immigrants who had crossed the channel to the UK had returned to Europe so far this year because of the difficulty of securing an agreement.
Downing Street confirmed on Monday that a task force led by Cabinet Minister Steve Berkley was drafted to support efforts to stop the increase in people arriving on the British coast.
Talking to Sky News on Monday, Business Minister Paul Scully defended the performance of Home Secretary Priti Patel, who is under pressure from a conservative colleague, and accused the French authorities of failure.
“Unfortunately, we have an agreement with France that is not fully affected at this time. We need to redo it.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson was asked if he believed France was doing enough to prevent crossing the strait, and Johnson’s official spokesman “continues to believe that there is more that both sides can do.” Said.
“By working together, we have blocked more than 20,000 migrant attempts so far this year. 400 arrests and 65 convictions,” he said. “But absolutely, there’s still a lot we can do to strengthen this enforcement.”
France’s President Emmanuel Macron told the newspaper last week that Britain “swayed between partnerships and provocations” when discussing the immigration crisis, but the two countries emphasized that “cooperation needs to be further strengthened.”
PA contributed to this report.
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