Channel crossings: September sees record number of migrants

Migrants are escorted to be processed after being picked up by an RNLI boat and taken to shore at Dungeness

More migrants have crossed the Channel in small boats so far in September than in any other previous month since the crisis began.

According to the Home Office, 459 migrants were intercepted on Wednesday, on 14 boats.

The total number of migrants to make the crossing in September now stands at 3,879.

The previous highest monthly total was set in July, when 3,510 people were intercepted.

The figure is almost double the number who attempted the crossing in September 2020 when Border Force picked up 1,951 people.

It takes the total for this year to 16,312. Just over 8,400 arrived in 2020.

The French authorities also prevented a further 181 people in seven boats making the crossing on Wednesday.

Border Force find a group of people thought to be migrants in a small boat off the coast of Dover in Kent in September 2021

Dan O'Mahoney, Clandestine Channel Threat Commander, said: "The government is determined to tackle the unacceptable rise in dangerous Channel crossings.

"Working with police and international partners there have been nearly 300 arrests and 65 convictions related to small boat criminality.

 "But this is a complicated issue requiring changes to our laws."

A group of migrants picked up by an RNLI boat and taken to shore at Dungeness

The government's New Plan for Immigration will change the law so those who facilitate crossings will face a maximum of life imprisonment. 

The legislation, already dubbed the "anti-refugee Bill" by campaigners critical of the plans, also intends to make it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK without permission.

It will result in the maximum sentence for those entering the country unlawfully rising from six months' imprisonment to four years.

However, the UN's refugee agency said the plans would break international law.

The Channel is one of the most dangerous and busiest shipping lanes in the world. Many migrants come from some of the poorest and most chaotic parts of the world, and many ask to claim asylum once they are picked up by the UK authorities.

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