Channel Crossings Hit 30,000 as Man Dies Attempting Journey

A group of illegal immigrants brought in to shore by a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the English Channel, in Dover, Kent, England, on Oct. 31, 2024. Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

More than 30,000 illegal immigrants have arrived in the UK by crossing the English Channel in small boats, official statistics show.

According to Home Office data, the number of asylum seekers arriving by that route hit 30,431 on Wednesday, after 564 landed in 12 boats.

The milestone was hit on the same day a man died in French waters trying to make the journey.

A further 230 illegal immigrants arrived on Thursday, bringing the year total to date to 30,661. This is 15 percent higher than by the end of October 2023, when 26,699 arrived, but 23 percent lower than at the same point in 2022 (39,929) which was a record-high year for these kinds of illegal entries.

October was the busiest month for boat landings so far this year, with 5,417 making the journey. By comparison, August was the busiest month last year (5,369) and in 2022 (8,574), with November being the busiest month (6,971) in 2021.

A total of 144,983 illegal immigrants have arrived by boat across the English channel since 2018, when records began.

Since Labour won the general election, the government has moved focus toward tackling illegal immigration by going after criminal people smuggling gangs and disrupting the supply chain of materials used for making the crossings.

In response to rising boat landings, a Home Office spokesman said, “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.”

“The people smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice,” he added.

Death in the Channel

Police and officials say that criminal gangs are changing tactics, pushing more people onto larger boats and in fewer crossings. But even with larger vessels, many are dangerously overflowing which puts peoples’ lives at risk.

Last month, a 2-year-old boy died after a boat overloaded with 90 people suffered engine failure. French interior minister Bruno Retailleau said at the time the boy had been “trampled to death.”

A spokeswoman for the French coastguard said on Wednesday that around 15 people were rescued when they fell into the sea as they tried to get on a boat between Hardelot and Equihen-Plage in the Calais region. One man was declared dead after he was brought ashore.

According to the French coastguard, Wednesday’s death put the number of fatalities in the Channel for October to 10, with the total for the year standing at 50.

Bibby Stockholm

Alongside its illegal immigration strategy, the new Labour government has scrapped the use of a number of sites for housing asylum seekers to save money.

The previous Conservative government had earmarked sites like the disused RAF Scampton air base in Lincolnshire and the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge off the coast of Dorset to house asylum seekers, in a bid to end the disorder and high costs of putting them up in hotels.

In a reversal of that strategy, the government said it would not renew the contract for the use of the Bibby, with hundreds of asylum seekers being moved to hotels across the country.

A view of small boats and outboard motors used by illegal immigrants to cross the English Channel at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent, England, on Oct. 31, 2024. Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

The government said continued use of the barge would have cost more than £20 million next year, and scrapping its usage forms part of a £7.7 billion savings in asylum costs that the administration expects to make over the next decade.

In September, the Home Office scrapped plans to move illegal immigrants onto RAF Scampton—formerly the home of the “Dambusters” squadron—with the department saying that opening the site would have cost £122 million by the end of its use in 2027, which did not represent value for money for the taxpayer.

The Home Office expects demand for such accommodation to be reduced, as it works to reduce the backlog in asylum claims.

62,800 Asylum Seekers

Other aspects of the previous administration’s illegal immigration policies which Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer scrapped was the Rwanda plan, which would have sent asylum seekers who arrived in the UK illegally to the African nation.

Instead, the government said it would restart asylum processing for those who, under the Conservative government, would have been sent to Rwanda, as well as increasing removals of those with no right to be in the UK.

Last month the Refugee Council estimated that 62,801 people who would not have had their asylum claims processed under the Conservative government policy could now be recognised as refugees and granted leave to stay.

The Refugee Council’s report added that “seven in ten of the people who have crossed the Channel in the twelve months to June 2024 would be expected to be recognised as refugees if their asylum claims were processed.”

PA Media contributed to this report.