Migrant channel crossings top 100,000 since 2018: UK data

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
11 Aug 2023 18:19

The UK Interior Ministry reveals that 755 migrants were identified in 14 small boats heading toward England's southern coast on Thursday, the biggest count on a single day this year.

Migrants on a semi-rigid boat trying to make their way from France across the English Channel in 2019 (AFP)

According to figures released on Friday, over 100,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel on small boats since Britain began monitoring arrivals from France in 2018.

Back in June, UK government numbers released that the number of persons coming to the UK in small boats has surpassed 10,000 since the beginning of the year.

The UK Interior Ministry revealed that 755 migrants were identified in 14 small boats heading toward England's southern coast on Thursday, the biggest count on a single day this year.

These boats raise the overall number of arrivals this year to nearly 16,000, bringing the total since the risky cross-Channel crossings began in 2018 to 100,715.

Officials were also transferring asylum-seekers off a barge parked off the southwest English coast on Friday after Legionella bacteria was discovered in the water just days after the migrants were placed onboard.

The Interior Ministry stated that none of the 39 people who came on the vessel this week displayed signs of Legionnaires' illness, which is caused by bacteria but is not communicable.

A Ministry spokesperson claimed the health and welfare of those on the vessel were of "utmost priority".

The current administration plans to implement a slew of immigration regulations this week in an effort to demonstrate to the Prime Minister that he is making progress on one of his five core goals, "stopping the boats."

Immigration is a serious political issue in the UK and a primary motivation for the Brexit vote of 2016 when the country left the European Union.

Attempts to deport rejected asylum seekers to Rwanda have stalled in court, owing to an extraordinary 45,755 crossings in 2022.

The UK also struck a £500m deal with France in March to fund a detention center in northern France.

Afghan refugees in UK are homeless after government hotel evictions

Afghan refugees in the United Kingdom are appearing to authorities as homeless after being kicked out of government hotels in "shameful" evictions. Many of the families fled to the UK after the Taliban took power in 2021, having worked with or for the British government and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

By the end of May, all 8,000 Afghans residing in bridging hotels had been presented with eviction notices, and the government had given them three months to find alternative housing.

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils, has now issued a warning after hearing claims that up to 20% of those removed had declared themselves homeless to local authorities. The hotels are being emptied in stages, with guests in the smaller hotels leaving first.

Labour MP Dan Jarvis, who served in Afghanistan, called the growing number of homeless families "shameful". He stated that moving people out of hotels was appropriate but not at the rate that the government was doing it.