English Channel migrant crossings (2018–present)
The shortest distance across the strait, at approximately 20 miles (32 kilometres), is from the South Foreland, northeast of Dover in the English county of Kent, to Cap Gris Nez, a cape near to Calais in the French département of Pas-de-Calais.
[5][6][7][8] More commonly, migrants stowed away aboard trains, lorries, or ferry boats, a technique that has become more difficult in recent years as British authorities have intensified searches of such vehicles and funded the construction of border fences in France.
[10] Rumours that entering and claiming asylum in the UK would become more difficult once Brexit went into effect circulated in migrant encampments in France, possibly fomented by people smugglers hoping to drum up business.
[14] Many arrive in small boats, ferries and may enter the country unnoticed, whilst others are apprehended on landing or are rescued when their craft founders off shore.
"[15][16] Journalist and former Scottish Labour Party MP Tom Harris argued that the small boat crossings that are occurring are not a "crisis.
[24] In July, the number of people crossing almost matched the combined total of May and June, with more migrants encouraged by good weather and calm seas.
French authorities claimed that in the first six months of 2020, the number of migrants crossing the English Channel increased by five times, as compared to the last year.
While his companion and British news media claimed he was 16 years old,[30][31] Boulogne-Sur-Mer's deputy public prosecutor Philippe Sabatier said a travel document provided by Mr Hamdallah gave his age as 28.
[43] In April 2022 Boris Johnson announced the Rwanda asylum plan in an attempt to deter people from making Channel crossings.
[52] By the middle of November 2023, the number of people arriving by small boat crossings has continued to fall with a 33% reduction recorded compared to the same point of time last year.
[60] On 23 April, the same day that the Safety of Rwanda bill passed, a French coast guard official reported the death of five migrants from 'crowd panic' during an attempt to cross the channel.
[61] James Cleverly accused Labour of enabling people smugglers through ineffective policies, citing the arrival of over 700 migrants and two deaths in the Channel on 11 August 2024.
[71][75][76][77] On 2 January 2019 the National Crime Agency announced the arrest of a 33-year-old Iranian and a 24-year-old Briton in Manchester on suspicion of arranging the "illegal movement of migrants" across the English Channel.
Migrants, now up to an average of 53[84] and sometimes almost 100 per boat, may have little choice regarding loading and overlook or are unaware of the maximal design capacity for the conditions (overloading closely correlates with incidence of deaths).
[citation needed] In December 2018 former Home Secretary Sajid Javid cut short a family holiday to devise a response to mounting small boat crossings.
[15][16][85] On 31 December 2018 Javid reversed a previous refusal to station additional Border Force cutters or hired crew transfer vessels (the current deployment) in the British half of the Channel (UK Territorial Waters) to intercept migrant small craft on the grounds that they would become a pull factor for migrants as in boats in legal distress (engaging the right to life as imminent risk of fatalities) so rapidly intercepted and thereby enabled to apply for asylum.
In agreeing to send more, Javid promised to do "everything we can" to make sure that small boat migration "is not a success", including returning would-be migrants to France.
[85] Javid stated that migrants crossing into UK waters from France or Belgium are not "genuine" asylum seekers, since they are already residing in a safe country.
[86] In response to the increase in arrivals due to calm seas in July and August 2020,[25] Javid's successor, Priti Patel, was reportedly "furious" and responded by saying she planned to make the English Channel (including Dover Strait) an "unviable" route into the UK.
She sought military assistance from the Royal Navy to work with French authorities to prevent UK-bound migrant vessels from leaving France.
On 10 August 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a statement: There's no doubt that it would be helpful if we could work with our French friends to stop them getting over the Channel.
Be in no doubt, what's going on is the activity of cruel and criminal gangs who are risking the lives of these people taking them across the Channel, a pretty dangerous stretch of water, in potentially unseaworthy vessels.
We want to stop that, working with the French, make sure that they understand that this isn't a good idea, this is a very bad and stupid and dangerous and criminal thing to do.
[88][89]Since 7 September 2020, the UK government has deployed such monitors as the Thales Watchkeeper WK450, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to patrol the English Channel.
The drones relay information to French and British border authorities, who can then rescue haphazard crossings insofar as their passengers enable this without risk to life.
[91] In April 2021, 192 refugee, human rights, and other groups signed a letter which described these proposals as "vague, unworkable, cruel and potentially unlawful".
Under Home Secretary Dame Yvette Cooper and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer the incoming Labour government issued a new media statement, on 24 October 2024: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
Our new Border Security Command will strengthen our global partnerships and enhance our efforts to investigate, arrest, and prosecute these evil criminals.
[93]According to a poll regarding use of the military to patrol the UK territorial waters half of the Channel conducted by YouGov in August 2020, 73% of Britons thought the crossings to be a serious issue.
[97] However the UK Government recognises that families can become fragmented because of the nature of conflict and persecution, and the speed and manner in which those seeking asylum are often forced to flee their country of origin.
