The number of migrants crossing the English Channel on small boats since 2018 has crossed 200,000.
| PULSE POINTS |
❓ WHAT HAPPENED: Over 200,000 boat migrants have crossed the English Channel to the United Kingdom since 2018, according to British government figures. 📺 DETAIL: In 2018, only 299 migrants traveled to the United Kingdom on small boats. In 2019, the number of illegal crossings rose to 1,843. The influx increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, peaking at 45,774 crossings in 2022. Overall, the number of boat migrants surpassed the 200,000 threshold after 70 migrants were intercepted crossing the Channel on Friday morning. 💬 KEY QUOTE: “This Government is bearing down on small boat crossings. The Home Secretary has signed a landmark new deal with France to boost enforcement action on beaches and put people smugglers behind bars. The Home Secretary has signed a landmark new deal with France to boost enforcement action on beaches and put people smugglers behind bars,” claimed a Home Office spokesman. 🎯 IMPACT: The recent figures underscore the United Kingdom’s ongoing illegal immigration crisis. Despite an agreement between the British and French governments to tackle boat crossings, with the former paying the latter millions of pounds, they persist at high levels. In August last year, Home Office data revealed that over 50,000 illegal migrants had crossed the English Channel since Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party came to power in 2024. Notably, boat migrants often commit serious crimes after they arrive, while their applications for asylum are being processed. In April, for instance, three asylum seekers were found guilty of gang raping a woman on England’s Brighton Beach after a five-week trial. |
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