More than 700 migrants arrived in the United Kingdom, on Wednesday, after crossing the English Channel in small boats, a record number this year, as the British government wants to put an end to these crossings.
According to Home Office data published on Thursday, 711 migrants in 14 boats crossed the sea inlet separating Great Britain from mainland Europe the day before. The previous record of 2024, on April 14, was when 534 people made the dangerous crossing in one day.
This is without counting the 66 migrants, including women and children, who were rescued on Wednesday off Dieppe, France, when their boat ran into trouble. According to French authorities, the migrants were returned to Dieppe.
A few months before the legislative elections, the Conservative government in the United Kingdom considers it one of its priorities to put an end to the crossing of the English Channel by migrants. A controversial law, approved on April 23, aims to deport thousands of people to Rwanda by the end of the year. Their asylum applications will be considered in Rwanda, but without the option of returning to the UK, regardless of the outcome.
To prepare for the deportations, which are expected to begin within nine to 11 weeks, several operations were carried out across the country this week to arrest an unspecified number of illegal immigrants. The Ministry of the Interior published photos showing bound men and escorts in metal trucks. The government insists that the law will have a deterrent effect.
English Channel crossings broke a historic record in the first four months of 2024, with more than 8,000 migrants arriving on English shores, the majority of whom were of Afghan or Vietnamese nationality.
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