Migrant crossings: More than 400 people cross Channel in small boats

The numbers of people crossing the English Channel has risen sharply this year

More than 400 people crossed the English Channel in small boats on Tuesday, the highest daily figure so far this year.

Border Force officials intercepted 405 people in 12 boats, while French authorities stopped another 538 people in 11 boats from making the crossing.

Several children, including a baby, were among migrants brought ashore at Dungeness, Kent, by an RNLI lifeboat.

More than 2,600 people have made the crossing in small boats this year.

Last year, 28,526 people crossed the English Channel in small boats from France to the UK, compared to 8,404 in 2020.

Minister for Justice and Tackling Illegal Migration, Tom Pursglove, said: "The rise in dangerous Channel crossings is unacceptable.

"Not only are they an overt abuse of our immigration laws but they also impact on the UK taxpayer. Rightly, the British public has had enough.

"Through our Nationality and Borders Bill, we're cracking down on people smugglers and fixing the broken system by making it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK illegally and introducing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for those who facilitate illegal entry into the country."

A Home Office spokeswoman said joint operations with the French had "prevented more than 23,000 migrant attempts" in 2021, and 19 small boat organised criminal groups had been dismantled with 400 arrests since July 2020.

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