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According to UK government numbers released on Sunday, the number of persons coming to the UK in small boats has surpassed 10,000 since the beginning of the year.

The figures supplied by the Home Office show that the preliminary number for the period up to Saturday is 10,139.

Last year by June 17, there were more than 11,300 crossings.

Last Sunday saw the most crossings on a single day this year, with 549 individuals attempting the risky voyage.

Crossings have increased in recent days with 486 coming on Friday and 374 arriving on Saturday.

Conservative PM Rishi Sunak has frequently committed to "stop the boats" and has made the subject one of his major concerns.

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.

Sunak also proposed measures last month to reduce "too high" levels of immigration.

Read more: 86 migrants dead after boat capsized off of Italian coast

Days ago, this year's deadliest migrant shipwreck off the coast of Greece reached a death toll of 78, with hundreds still missing, according to officials.

The victims, almost all of whom were men from Afghanistan and Pakistan, died when their boat capsized off the coast of the southern Peloponnese. The ship, which was carrying several hundred individuals from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Egypt, had set sail from eastern Libya for Italy. It was unclear whether it was a cargo ship or a fishing trawler.

According to UN estimates, over 72,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in the Mediterranean countries of Italy, Spain, Greece, Malta, and Cyprus so far this year. Greece has traditionally served as a major transit point for individuals fleeing war, persecution, and poverty in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.