Big Increase in Illegal Immigrants Crossing Channel as Rwanda Threat Lingers

In the last week alone 1,106 people arrived in Kent

Illegal immigrants who crossed the English Channel in small boats stand talking to each other at their temporary home at Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent, on March 7, 2023. PA

Small boat crossings in the English Channel have begun to surge again with 1,106 illegal immigrants arriving on the English coast in the last week.

That figure—which includes 492 people on April 5 alone—compares to 3,793 for the first three months of the year.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has repeatedly pledged to crack down on illegal immigration and his “stop the boats” campaign has been one of his five main priorities since he replaced Liz Truss in October.

The government has said it believes the “world-leading” deal—which was negotiated by previous Home Secretary Priti Patel—to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda while their asylum applications are being processed, would begin to have a deterrent effect when deportation flights begin taking off.

But the deportations are on hold pending a legal appeal against a High Court ruling in December that the policy was lawful.

The Court of Appeal is expected to give a ruling later this month, but if campaigners lose they might take the case all the way to the UK Supreme Court, which could delay the first flights until Christmas.

The surge in illegal immigrants this week could be owing to a combination of better weather and rising demand as people try to get into the country before the Rwanda policy—which could not be applied retrospectively—is introduced.

The Illegal Migration Bill, currently going through Parliament, would also make it harder for people who arrived in the country illegally to stay in Britain.

The bill says illegal immigrants would be deported back to their home country or sent to Rwanda.

But The Times of London has discovered, following a request under the Freedom of Information Act, that of the 45,755 immigrants who arrived on small boats in 2022 only 215 have been deported.

Low Level of Deportations ‘Not Serving as a Deterrent’

Natalie Elphicke, the Conservative MP for Dover, told The Times of London: “The number of Channel migrants deported or returned is so low it’s not serving as a deterrent. That’s why it is vital to stop the boats leaving France in the first place, and migrants picked up in the Channel should be immediately returned to France.”

Earlier this month Sunak agreed a new deal with France’s President Emmanuel Macron to stop the flow of illegal immigrants.

The British government agreed to send Paris £478 million ($577 million) to fund a new detention centre in France and hire hundreds of extra French law enforcement officers to patrol the French coast and catch people-trafficking gangs.

Sunak said at the time: “We don’t need to manage this problem, we need to break it. And today, we have gone further than ever before to put an end to this disgusting trade in human life. Working together, the UK and France will ensure that nobody can exploit our systems with impunity.”

While the government seeks to stem the flow, it is also preparing new accommodation for the influx.

Plan to House Migrants in Barge

Last week the Home Office agreed a deal to house 500 asylum seekers on a giant barge, the Bibby Stockholm, anchored off the Isle of Portland in Dorset for 18 months.

The Home Office said the barge would provide “basic and functional accommodation” and would reduce the costly reliance on hotels around the country to house illegal immigrants.

An undated image of the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge, a 222-bedroom, three-storey vessel, which the Home Office plans to use to house 500 asylum seekers off Portland, Dorset, England. Bibby Marine/PA

Conservative-run Dorset Council and local Tory MP Richard Drax are considering launching legal action to prevent the barge being docked at Portland.

Another Tory-run authority, Braintree District Council, is trying to prevent a former RAF base at Wethersfield being used as temporary accommodation for immigrants. The council has been granted an injunction hearing next week.

The government also recently announced plans to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to set up UK bank accounts.

But last week the shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said, “Every day the Conservatives spend scrambling to sort out their internal squabbles and legal problems, their failure to secure our borders and run a functional asylum system is costing taxpayers millions.”

A Home Office spokesman said, “The unacceptable number of people risking their lives by making these dangerous crossings is placing an unprecedented strain on our asylum system.”

He added: “Our priority is to stop this illegal trade, and our Small Boats Operational Command is working alongside our French partners and other agencies to disrupt the people smugglers.

“The government has gone further by introducing legislation which will ensure that those people arriving in the UK illegally are detained and promptly removed to their country of origin or a safe third country,” added the spokesman.

PA Media contributed to this report.