According to figures published this Wednesday by the British Interior Ministry, more than 4,600 migrants have reached England via the Channel illegally aboard dinghies since January 1. This number is a record for the first three months of the year despite promises from the Conservative government to put an end to these dangerous crossings.
More than 4,600 migrants have reached England across the Channel illegally aboard dinghies since January 1, a record for the first three months of the year despite promises from the Conservative government to put an end to these dangerous crossings. According to figures published Wednesday by the British Home Office, 4,644 people, all nationalities combined, made this perilous crossing in the first quarter, an increase of 23% compared to the same period last year (3,700). The last record was set in 2022 with 4,548 crossings between the beginning of January and the end of March.
Seven migrants have died since the start of the year
On Tuesday alone, 338 people reached the English coast in these boats, most often inflatable boats loaded with dozens of passengers. Since the start of the year, at least seven migrants, including a seven-year-old girl and a 14-year-old teenager, have died at sea and on a canal while trying to reach England. “There is an increasing risk-taking” and “the coming year does not bode well,” the French migrant aid association Utopia 56 warned at the beginning of March, according to which the pace of deaths since the start of the year reached a level not seen in three years. Since his arrival at Downing Street a year and a half ago, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made the fight against irregular immigration one of his priorities, insisting that he wants to “stop the boats”.
In 2023, nearly 30,000 migrants in total crossed the Channel illegally, a figure down sharply compared to the record reached in 2022 (45,000), which the government highlights in its report. Any increase in arrivals on British soil risks weakening the Conservatives a few months before the legislative elections, for which the Labor opposition is well ahead in the polls. The government’s controversial bill to expel migrants to Rwanda is also encountering resistance from the upper house of Parliament, that of the Lords, which wishes to soften this text. On Monday, the Ministry of the Interior launched a campaign on social networks to dissuade the growing number of Vietnamese nationals from attempting to cross the Channel.