More migrants brought ashore at Dover after crossing the Channel
More migrants have been brought ashore at Dover after crossing the English Channel in small boats.
A total of 241 people made the crossing on Saturday March 22 in four boats according to the latest figures from the Home Office.
This brings the total this year up to March 22 2025 to 5,512, according to analysis of the Government figures by the PA news agency.
This compares to 4,306 by the same date in 2024 and 3,683 in 2023 while in 2022, 3,836 had crossed by March 22.
The highest number arriving in one day this year so far stands at 592 people, crossing the Channel in 11 boats on March 2.
Among those being brought ashore at Dover by a Border Force vessel on Sunday were men and women, all wearing life jackets and some wrapped in blankets in the rainy conditions.
The French coastguard confirmed two migrants died in two days attempting to cross the Channel on Wednesday and Thursday.
One person died after being pulled from the water while the other person died after trying to cross in an overloaded boat, despite rescue efforts to save them.
The UK signed a “road-map” agreement with France earlier this month aimed at bolstering co-operation to tackle people smuggling across the Channel.
The Government’s new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill also continues through Parliament with plans to introduce new criminal offences and hand counter terror-style powers to police and enforcement agencies to crack down on people smuggling gangs.
A Home Office spokesperson 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.”
A Number 10 spokesman said on Friday: “We’ve acknowledged that there is a flow of migrants into this country by illegal means on small boats and we’ve seen a number of incidents in this week in French waters.
“That’s why this Government has put forward a serious credible plan to finally restore order to the chaos we inherited in our asylum system.”
The Conservatives said the latest arrivals are proof that Labour has “surrendered our borders”.
“Their claim to be smashing the gangs has now been exposed as laughable,” Chris Philp MP, the shadow home secretary said.
“Now crossings are soaring, the asylum backlog is growing, and thousands are still holed up in hotels on the taxpayers’ expense.
“The Government must urgently implement a removals deterrent so the illegal immigrants in France do not bother attempting the crossing.
“Cancelling the Rwanda removals scheme before it even started was a catastrophic mistake.”
Failed asylum seekers could be sent to overseas “return hubs” in the Balkans under plans being discussed by Home Office officials, according to reports.
A Government source said: “This is clearly a shared challenge right across the world and we’ve always said this international problem needs an international solution.
“That’s why we’re looking at the widest possible set of options with a completely open mind. Any scheme we’d consider would always need to meet the test of being affordable, workable and legal.”
