Over 2,000 Illegal Immigrants Crossed Channel in November: Home Office

A Border Force vessel carrying around 100 illegal immigrants, including several children, arrives at Dover port, England, on Oct. 31, 2024. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The total number of illegal immigrants intercepted crossing the English Channel in the first 10 days of November amounted to 2,239, the Home Office has confirmed.

Nine boats carrying 572 people were intercepted on Nov. 9 as they attempted to cross the Channel, and a further four boats, with 209 people on board, were recorded on Nov. 10.

Official data marked a surge in November crossings compared to the same period in both 2022 and 2023, when zero crossings were recorded.

The total number of immigrants to arrive so far this year totals 32,900, an increase from 26,699 at the same time last year and a drop from 39,929 in 2022.

The Home Office has vowed to tackle the illegal immigration crisis that has so far seen a total of 147,222 immigrants arrive in Britain by boat across the Channel since 2018, when records began.

“We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security,” a Home Office spokesperson said in a statement last month.

“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.”

It comes as the government intensified its efforts to boost UK border security and tackle people-smuggling gangs.

Last week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced an additional £75 million investment to boost border security, bringing the total funding for the Border Security Command over the next two years to £150 million.

Speaking at the Interpol General Assembly in Glasgow, Starmer said: “Illegal migration is, without question, a massive driver of global insecurity. There is nothing progressive about turning a blind eye as men, women and children die in the Channel.”

The investment will support a new Organised Immigration Crime Intelligence Unit and hundreds of new investigators and intelligence officers.

He called people smuggling a “vile trade that must be stamped out” and said that the government will “treat people smugglers like terrorists.” Starmer also vowed to rebuild Britain’s “broken” asylum system to process claims swiftly and humanely.

Western Balkans

Last week, Starmer attended the European Political Community meeting in Budapest, Hungary, where he met with key European partners and called for action to reduce immigrant deaths in the Channel.

“People smuggling criminal gangs undermine our national security. Backed by our Border Security Command and alongside our international partners, the UK will be at the heart of efforts to end the scourge of this organised crime,” he said in a post on social media platform X on Nov. 7.

New agreements with Serbia, North Macedonia, and Kosovo, signed during the visit, aim to support plans to clamp down on organised immigration crime.

The deals, building on the existing partnership between the UK and Albania, will increase intelligence sharing to intercept the gangs as they transport vulnerable people through the Western Balkans.

Last year, almost 100,000 migrants were transited through the region, making it a key route used by migrants arriving in the EU or UK illegally.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement that international cooperation will leave criminals with “nowhere to hide.”

“Our work with our partners in the Western Balkans is absolutely key to dismantling the criminal networks that orchestrate the exploitation of vulnerable people for financial gain,” Cooper said.

“Working more closely with Serbia, North Macedonia and Kosovo, we will share information and intelligence, and work across borders to map out what is happening and where, to break the business models of these unscrupulous gangs at source.”

Police and officials say 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 people’s 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 that the boy had been “trampled to death.”