90 Illegal Immigrants Crossed English Channel to Reach UK on Christmas Day

An inflatable craft carrying illegal immigrants crosses the shipping lane in the English Channel off the coast of Dover, England, on Aug. 4, 2022. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Ninety illegal immigrants arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in two small boats on Christmas Day, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said.

They were the first crossings recorded since Dec. 21. So far, the provisional total for illegal immigrants making the dangerous journey across the Channel this year has reached 45,756, including about 15,000 who are believed to have come from Albania.

That compares with 28,501 in 2021 and is 151 times more than the number that tried the crossing in 2018.

Members of the Dover lifeboat place a body bag on a stretcher after returning to the Port of Dover following a large search and rescue operation launched in the English Channel off the coast of Dungeness, in Kent, southeast England, on Dec. 14, 2022. Gareth Fuller/PA Media

Four people died on Dec. 14 after a boat carrying illegal immigrants capsized in the English Channel.

It was not the first time the journey has turned deadly. At least 27 people died when a dinghy sank while heading to the UK from France in November last year.

A government spokesperson said: “Nobody should put their lives at risk by taking dangerous and illegal journeys.

“We will go further to tackle the gangs driving this, using every tool at our disposal to deter illegal migration and disrupt the business model of people smugglers.''

New Plan

To tackle the illegal small boat crossings, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unveiled a new five-point plan on Dec. 13 to curb illegal immigration.

Addressing the House of Commons, Sunak announced a “permanent” and “unified” Small Boats Operational Command, which he said will consolidate the military and civilian capabilities to take a coordinated approach to policing the English Channel.

The National Crime Agency, which is promised 700 new recruits and a doubling of its funding, will also be part of the unit.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak leaving 10 Downing Street, London, to appear for the first time in front of the Commons Liaison Committee of select committee chairs, in the House of Commons, on Dec. 20, 2022. James Manning/PA Media

He also set out plans to change the immigration legal framework, vowing to introduce new legislation early next year to “make unambiguously clear that if you enter the UK illegally you should not be able to remain here.”

The prime minister argued many of the small boat arrivals came from “fundamentally safe countries” and all travel through safe countries.

Illegal arrivals will be “detained and swiftly returned” to their home country or a safe country where their asylum cases will be considered, and will have “no right to reentry, settlement, or citizenship,” Sunak said.

Citing the £5.5 million ($6.8 million) daily cost of housing illegal immigrants in hotels, the prime minister said the government is eyeing alternative sites such as “disused holiday parks, former student halls, and surplus military sites” to halve the bill.

Following the deadly incident on Dec. 14, Home Secretary Suella Braverman told MPs that the proposed legislation “will save lives.”

She said: “Crossing the Channel in unseaworthy vessels is a lethally dangerous endeavour. It is for this reason, above all, that we are working so hard to destroy the business model of the people smugglers—evil, organised criminals who treat human beings as cargo.”

‘Too Weak’

The main opposition Labour Party has criticised the government for being “too weak” in its crackdown on the people-smuggling gangs.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the incident was “a reminder that the criminal gangs running those routes put the lives of the desperate at risk and profit from their misery,” and “they must be broken up and brought to justice.”

Detainees inside the Manston short-term holding centre for illegal immigrants wave to members of the media outside, near Ramsgate, Kent, southeast England, on Nov. 3, 2022. Daniel Leal /AFP via Getty Images

Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper told the House of Commons: “The UK and French governments and authorities have failed to stop the criminal and smuggler and trafficking gangs proliferating around the Channel. The action against those gangs has been too weak. There have been barely any prosecutions or convictions and barely any inroads into the smuggler gangs.”

Stressing the need to crack down on the gangs, she said: “They need to be caught, they need to be prosecuted, they need to be jailed for the loss of life in the cold sea. We need comprehensive action.”

‘Overly Permissive Asylum Rules’

The UK’s “overly permissive asylum rules” have also been key factors in the mounting illegal arrivals, a UK think tank has said.

Asylum-seekers are almost three times more likely to have their applications granted in the UK than in France, according to a recent report by Migration Watch UK.

Data from the Home Office showed the granting of permission in the first instance rose to 77 percent in 2021 from 34 percent in 2016. The grant rate in France over the same period fell to 25 percent from 32 percent.

France is among the least likely countries in Europe to grant asylum, while Britain is at the other end of the spectrum.

“The UK’s overly permissive asylum rules are an outlier compared with most of Europe and are adding to the powerful magnet that is drawing thousands of asylum rejects from all over Europe across the Channel in dangerous boat trips,” Migration Watch said.

Migration Watch’s report revealed 55 percent of immigrants from Eritrea, 44 percent of Afghans, 38 percent of those from Sudan, and 27 percent of Iraqis who were applying for asylum in the UK, had already claimed before in an EU country.

An internal Home Office report found the decision of some to head for the UK “may reflect an unsuccessful asylum application in France” and said another important factor was secondary movement from Greece and Germany.

Chris Summers, Lily Zhou, and PA Media contributed to this report.