Dan Wootton: Ignoring the migrant crisis doesn’t make the problem go away

How have we really as a nation started to blindly accept that nearly 1,000 illegal migrants crossing the Channel on a single day is somehow normal?

There is an illegal immigration crisis unfolding before us, yet the mainstream media wants to divert their eyes; the government wants to ignore it because their policies have proved utterly futile; and the opposition refuses to loudly condemn what’s happening.

But here are the horrifying facts: More than 22,300 migrants crossed the channel this year, almost three times the number intercepted in the whole of last year.

According to Home Office figures, over 1,200 migrants have landed on UK shores on Tuesday and Wednesday alone.

Six hundred and 95 migrants made the journey yesterday in 22 small boats – one week after a daily record of 853 people made the crossing.

Almost 3,000 migrants have made the life-threatening journey this month – 1,000 more than border forces had reportedly planned for.

And today’s activity could be the worst yet.

GB News Home and Security Editor Mark White – who has been steadfastly covering this story – revealed that at least 25 small boats, most carrying between 40 and 50 people, had been stopped in the channel by midday today.

In that time, four boats landed in beaches along the Kent coast, according to sources.

Mark reported earlier that he believes by the end of the day a new record may have been set in terms of the number of people crossing the Channel.

The government has spent all summer talking tough on how they were going to address this dire situation but have been unable to stop the boats.

And the boats must be stopped.

The despicable people smugglers are making a mockery of the UK’s legal migration system.

The vast majority of the people arriving are clearly economic migrants – young, male and well aware they’re going to be put immediately into Britain’s asylum system.

And what’s most concerning is that Border Force insiders have suggested that the numbers may not drop to the extent the government hoped over winter.

One source told the Daily Telegraph today…

“Officers have told clandestine threat command repeatedly there is no basis for believing the surge in numbers would fall away over winter. The combination of low wave height today, better organisation from the smugglers and larger boats means the crossing is more established as safe and successful.”

France doesn’t want to help, despite the fact we’re paying them £54 million – we were naïve to believe they ever would, with Macron upping anti-UK rhetoric by the day to try and help him win re-election.

I’ve been saying for two months that Priti Patel must ignore the hysterical response from the French government and forge ahead with plans for the Border Force to use pushback tactics immediately that would allow us to intercept and redirect migrant boats before they reach our shores and ensure they end up safely back on French land.

But just ignoring this utter calamity – even though most of the media might be playing along – doesn’t make the problem go away.