Channel migrants: More than 1,100 people arrive in small boats

For the second time this month more than 1,100 migrants have arrived in a single day

More than 1,100 migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats in a single day, for the second time this month.

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that 21 boats carrying 1,150 people were intercepted on Thursday, the third highest daily figure this year.

Government figures collated by the BBC show 31,699 people have made the crossing so far in 2022.

The number of arrivals led officials to erect special tents in Dover.

Existing facilities for those arriving at the Kent port appeared to be overflowing with those waiting to be processed.

Last week, the number of people to cross this year exceeded the total for 2021. Figures for small boat crossings have grown steadily in recent years.

So far this month 6,625 people have made the journey. On 4 September 1,160 migrants arrived in the UK on small boats.

The highest number to arrive in a single day was on 22 August when 1,295 people made the crossing.

A government spokesman said the continued rise in crossings was "a clear abuse of our immigration laws, risking the lives of vulnerable people and funding immoral criminal gangs".

He said: "Despite the lies they have been sold by the people smugglers, migrants who travel through safe countries to illegally enter the UK will not be allowed to start a new life here."

Officials erected tents to keep migrants under cover

On 14 April, the then home secretary, Priti Patel, signed what she described as a "world-first" agreement with Rwanda, under which the East African country would receive migrants deemed by the UK to have arrived "illegally" and therefore inadmissible under new immigration rules.

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

Several asylum seekers, the Public and Commercial Services Union and charities Care4Calais, Detention Action and Asylum Aid, are embroiled in court cases with the Home Office as they challenge the legality of the policy.

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