Channel migrants: More than 100,000 crossings made since 2018

A group of 17 migrants were rescued in the English Channel on Thursday

More than 100,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel on small boats in the last five years.

The milestone was reached on Thursday as 755 people crossed in 14 boats, according to the Home Office - the highest daily number so far this year.

It also confirmed 17 individuals were rescued from the water who had gone overboard on Thursday morning.

The government said the crossings were "placing an unprecedented strain on our asylum system".

How many people cross the Channel in small boats and how many claim asylum?

The RNLI said lifeboats from Dover, Ramsgate, Dungeness and Littlestone were called out on Thursday morning to assist with the coastguard rescue.

A Home Office spokesman said the migrants were all taken ashore for routine health and safety checks.

The Border Force also reported on Friday that one of its cutters broke down and a £400,000 drone used to monitor activity in the Channel crashed into the sea.

More than 15,000 migrants have now crossed the English Channel in small boats in 2023

Migrant crossings across the Channel started to become regular in 2018.

Since current records began on 1 January 2018 a total of 100,715 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey, according to analysis of Government data.

The latest crossings come just weeks after sweeping asylum reforms became law and while the Government fends off legal challenges in the courts over its Rwanda deal and decisions to house migrants on former military sites in Essex and Lincolnshire.

Meanwhile, asylum seekers were finally moved onto the Bibby Stockholm barge on the Dorset coast after the plans were beset by delays.

Analysis

by Simon Jones, BBC News

The 100,000 figure is clearly an unwelcome milestone for a government which has vowed to stop the boats. But the boats keep coming.

This week was supposed to be an opportunity for ministers to trumpet some of their new initiatives - more cooperation with social-media companies to prevent smugglers advertising journeys online, a new deal with Turkey to prevent boat parts reaching France, and asylum seekers moving onto the barge in Dorset.

But that risks being overshadowed by the latest figures.

The government will take some comfort in the fact crossings so far this year have fallen by 15% compared with the same period last year.

Critics though say the fall is more down to the bad weather we've been having in recent weeks than government policy, as summer is usually the peak period for crossings.

The Illegal Migration Act, central to the Prime Minister's pledge to "stop the boats" crossing the Channel, will prevent people from claiming asylum in the UK if they arrive through unauthorised means.

Officials are still working on when the legislation will come into force, and it is anticipated elements of the new laws may be implemented in stages over the coming months.

In 2022, more than 89,000 people requested asylum in the UK.

It reached that figure after applications rose throughout the 2010s, as refugees fled Syria.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Our priority is to stop the boats and we are working alongside our French partners and other agencies to disrupt the people smugglers.

"The government is going even further through our Illegal Migration Act which will mean that people arriving in the UK illegally are detained and promptly removed to their country of origin or a safe third country."

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