More Than 45,000 Illegal Immigrants Crossed English Channel to UK in 2022

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

A record 45,756 illegal immigrants crossed the English Channel to reach the UK in 2022, UK government figures show.

The last crossings of the year took place on Christmas Day when 90 people made the journey from France in two boats.

The Ministry of Defence recorded no further crossings for the remaining six days of 2022 amid bad weather conditions.

The provisional annual total for 2022 is a record high and is 60 percent up on the figure for the whole of 2021, but it is lower than the 60,000 that Home Office officials previously estimated could make the journey during the year.

August 2022 was the highest month on record for illegal Channel crossings when 8,631 people arrived in the UK after making the journey. Aug. 22 saw a record 1,295 illegal immigrants crossing in a single day on 27 boats.

According to Home Office figures, the number of people smuggled into the UK in small boats has soared in recent years, with 28,526 people detected in 2021, compared to 8,466 in 2020, 1,843 in 2019, and 299 in 2018.

These dangerous journeys can sometimes be deadly. Four people died on Dec. 14 after a boat carrying illegal immigrants capsized in the Channel.

A more deadly incident took place in November 2021, when at least 27 people died when a dinghy sank while heading to the UK from France.

A UK government spokesperson said: “The global migration crisis is causing an unprecedented strain on our asylum system.

“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.”

Rwanda Scheme

Over the last 12 months, British politicians have made a series of attempts to tackle illegal immigration in the Channel.

In April, then-Home Secretary Priti Patel signed a “world-first” agreement with Rwanda, under which people who have arrived in the UK illegally would be sent to the East African country on a one-way ticket for processing and potential settlement.

Then-Home Secretary Priti Patel and Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta sign a "world-first" migration and economic development partnership in Kigali, Rwanda, on April 14, 2022. Flora Thompson/PA

But her first attempt to relocate people to Rwanda was frustrated by the (European Court of Human Rights) ECHR in Strasbourg, which issued a last-minute injunction to ground the flight.

The plan has so far failed to deter would-be illegal immigrants. Since the Rwanda deal was signed, 40,460 migrants have arrived in the UK in small boats.

But Patel’s successor Suella Braverman remains committed to the plan.

In a victory for the government, the High Court in London ruled on Dec. 19 in favour of the Rwanda plan, saying it was “lawful.”

Braverman welcomed the verdict, adding: “Our ground-breaking migration partnership with Rwanda will provide individuals relocated with support to build new lives there, while disrupting the business model of people-smuggling gangs putting lives at risk through dangerous and illegal small boat crossings.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman leaves 10 Downing Street following a Cabinet Meeting in London, on Nov. 29, 2022. Leon Neal/Getty Images

But the opposition Labour Party has said it would drop the Rwanda policy if it wins the next general election.

Commenting on the High Court ruling, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The Rwanda scheme is a damaging distraction from the urgent action the government should be taking to go after the criminal gangs and sort out the asylum system. It is unworkable, unethical, extortionately expensive.”

Sunak’s New Plan

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

Addressing the House of Commons on Dec. 13, 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.

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

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

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.

But Labour criticised the government for being “too weak” in its crackdown on the people-smuggling gangs.

Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said: “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.”

‘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.

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

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.

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