SMALL boat crossings are on course for the worst year on record — with 1,722 migrants arriving in Britain in the last week alone.
Channel arrivals are up 31 per cent since Labour came to power last summer, despite the party’s election pledge to smash the criminal smuggling gangs.
AFPSmall boat crossings are on course for the worst year on record[/caption]
AFPSince January a whopping 6,406 people have made the perilous journey from France across the busy shipping lane[/caption]
The continuing influx will only add to the eye-watering burden on taxpayersAFP
The continuing influx will only add to the huge burden on taxpayers to house and process illegal migrants.
This comes as a Sun investigation shows French police are allegedly enabling illegal migration by leaving overcrowded boats in the Channel.
Last year the government spent £5.38billion on asylum seeker accommodation and support — and 8,000 more migrants are in hotels since Sir Keir Starmer became PM.
Since January, 6,406 people have made the journey from France across the busy shipping lane.
It far exceeds the 4,644 who had arrived by the same point last year, and the 3,683 who crossed in 2023.
The official 2025 total will rise again today after around 400 migrants were seen being picked up by Border Force yesterday on another day of sunny weather — known as “red days”.
Home Office sources blamed the weather for the surge, saying there had been 42 red days so far this year, compared to 17 in the same period in 2024.
ENOUGH TO FILL YORK
By Jack Elsom
A STAGGERING 153,194 migrants have arrived in the UK in dinghies since 2018, when the crossings began.
It is the equivalent to York’s population.
Once here, they are free to claim asylum — unlocking taxpayer support, including free accommodation.
Each boat could potentially cost the public millions of pounds. Last year, research by a think tank found the average annual cost of housing and supporting an asylum seeker rose from £17,000 per person in 2019/20 to £41,000 in 2023/24.
The IPPR said the huge increase was “primarily down to reliance on hotels”.
Currently, there are 112,187 asylum seekers who receive government support.
A Home Office source said: “We had the lowest number of crossings for at least three years in January and February.
“But March has seen an unprecedented number of calm weather days in the Channel, and that has inevitably driven up numbers.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is now in a race against time to prove her decision to axe the Rwanda deterrent and create a Border Security Command is working.
Since Labour came to power in July last year, 29,648 migrants have come to Britain, which is more than the 22,648 in the same eight-month period under the Tories.
The Sun understands that Ms Cooper is lining up a series of announcements on organised immigration crime next week.
Home Office insiders are describing the blitz as “Hell Week” — a reference to the most intensive week in Navy Seals’ training.
The Government boasts of ramping up deportations to the tune of 19,000 since coming to office, with enforced returns up 24 per cent.
Yet critics say the majority of those are voluntary returns, where foreign offenders are given assistance to return home.
Since the Channel crisis erupted in 2018, just three per cent of the 153,000 small boat migrants have been deported.
As of December, 112,187 asylum seekers were taking some form of government accommodation and subsistence. Some 38,079 of these are in taxpayer-funded hotels, up from 29,585 in June and costing around £4.5million every day.
The number of asylum claims last year rose 18 per cent to 108,000, the highest since records began. However the proportion that were granted fell from 67 per cent in 2023 to 47 per cent.
Rob Bates, from the Centre of Migration Control, said last night: “There must be no more asylum applications processed, the system must be frozen and the backlog cleared by removing every single individual who entered our country illegally, without exception.”
France has long been accused of not doing enough to stop small boat crossings despite being given £500million since 2023.
Last month Ms Cooper hailed an agreement directing £7million of existing funds to stronger law enforcement in France. Her French counterpart Bruno Retailleau also pledged to begin intercepting small boats in shallow waters.
The best deterrent is preventing people from making these life-threatening journeys in the first place.
Sir Keir’s spokesman
Currently French police use knives to deflate the dinghies when they are on the beaches, but lack capacity to detain migrants.
Ms Cooper’s Borders Bill will give authorities powers to arrest migrants who refused to be rescued by the French.
She will also give police “counter-terror style” powers to seize laptops, mobile phones and financial assets from suspected people smugglers.
Ministers are also considering the possibility of processing asylum claims in one of the Balkan states.
Sir Keir’s spokesman said last night: “There isn’t a silver bullet to solve this problem.
“The best deterrent is preventing people from making these life-threatening journeys in the first place, while sending a clear message to anyone arriving here illegally that you’ll be processed and returned quickly.”
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