40,000 migrants have crossed into UK THIS YEAR, figures set to show

40,000 migrants have crossed into UK THIS YEAR, figures set to show
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George McMillan

By George McMillan


Published: 13/11/2022

- 05:42

Updated: 13/11/2022

- 10:44

The provisional total of arrivals for 2022 had been 39,913 ahead of the weekend, with further crossings on Saturday likely to set a new milestone.

The number of people crossing the English Channel in small boats has now passed 41,000 after hundreds more arrived this morning.

GB News Kent producer said around 300 Channel migrants had been taken to Dover harbour so far on Sunday.


Border Force vessels and RNLI lifeboats are also responding to a number of other small boat sightings off the Kent coast.

972 people arrived in 22 small boats on Saturday, taking the total number of Channel migrants since the beginning of January to 40,885.

The arrival of another 300 so far today takes the total number so far this year to more than 41,000.

Border Force officials could be seen bringing groups of people into shore at Dover, Kent across the weekend, marking the first arrivals since October 31, following a spell of bad weather.

In 2021, there were 28,561 recorded.

August 22 saw the highest daily total on record, with 1,295 people crossing in 27 boats.

It is more than six months since the then home secretary Priti Patel announced plans to send migrants to Rwanda to try to deter people from crossing the Channel.

A group of people thought to be migrants wait to be processed at the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent, after being brought from a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel. Picture date: Saturday November 12, 2022.
A group of people thought to be migrants wait to be processed at the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent.
Gareth Fuller

Yesterday, large groups of migrants clashed with police near Dunkirk, after French authorities frustrated their attempts to send dozens of small boats into the English Channel.

UK and French authorities had been preparing to counter the expected "mass launch of small boats" this weekend, after bad weather prevented the illegal crossings for almost a fortnight.

GB News filmed around the village of Gravelines, near Dunkirk, as large numbers of French police officers descended on the area.

Hundreds of migrants were seen heading towards Gravelines on Friday and overnight Saturday.

Our team saw between 5-6 thousand people in several makeshift camps around Dunkirk and near Gravelines on Friday. We filmed overnight as large columns of people walked, under the cover of darkness, down main roads towards the dunes and wooded areas near the beach front in Gravelines.

On April 14, Ms Patel signed what she described as a “world-first” agreement with Rwanda, under which the East African country will receive migrants deemed by the UK to have arrived “illegally”, and are therefore inadmissible under new immigration rules.

However, the first deportation flight, due to take off on June 14, was grounded amid legal challenges.

The legality of the policy has since been contested in the courts, with ministers and campaigners awaiting a ruling from High Court judges on the case.

A young child is carried from a Border Force vessel after arriving in Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel. Picture date: Saturday November 12, 2022.
A young child is carried from a Border Force vessel after arriving in Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel.
Gareth Fuller

This week, two councils lost bids for High Court injunctions to prevent hotels from housing asylum seekers.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council asked the High Court to continue an interim injunction preventing migrants being accommodated at the Humber View Hotel in Hull, which was granted after it was contacted by the Home Office with a proposal to use the site.

Ipswich Borough Council also asked for the extension of an interim injunction to stop further asylum seekers being placed at the four-star Novotel hotel in Ipswich city centre, where 72 people were already being housed.

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel. Picture date: Saturday November 12, 2022.
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent.
Gareth Fuller

The number of people reaching the UK in small boats from France after navigating busy shipping lanes has increased steadily in recent years.

Some 299 were detected in 2018, followed by 1,843 in 2019 and 8,466 in 2020, official figures show.

Despite the growing numbers, the small boat arrivals are a fraction of the number of people going to mainland Europe.

The MoD said its data is taken from “live operational systems” and is subject to change, “including reduction”.

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