The number of illegal migrants crossing the English Channel in 2024 rose by 25% compared to the previous year, according to initial government figures.
In 2024, 36,816 illegal immigrants were recorded crossing the Channel in small boats from the coast of France. This was a 25% increase compared to the previous year, when 29,437 boat migrants successfully crossed the waterway, Sky News reported. reported.
Although down from 2022, a record year in which 45,774 people crossed the Channel illegally, 2024 is still more than any other year since the crisis began in 2018. There were many.
2024 is also believed to be the deadliest year on record, with the United Nations' International Organization for Migration (IOM) reporting that 77 people lost their lives attempting to cross the often dangerous waterways. However, France claims the death toll is lower, at 55.
Despite vowing to the nation that it would tackle the crisis, the left-wing Labor government has monitored 23,242 illegal landings by boat migrants since coming to power in July, 29 more than in the same period in 2023. % increase. telegraph paper reported.
Immediately after taking office, Prime Minister Keir Starmer reversed plans proposed by the previous government to immediately send boat migrants to detention camps in Rwanda, rather than keeping them in the UK while their asylum claims were processed. did.
Instead of deterring migrants trying to come to the UK with the threat of immediate deportation, the left-wing government hopes to slow the flow of illegal immigration by targeting people in smuggling organizations who facilitate migrants' entry. I entrusted it.
A Home Office spokesperson said on Wednesday: “Human smugglers don't care whether the vulnerable people they exploit are alive or dead, as long as they are paid.” We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice. ”
Critics have argued that the human trafficking trade is so lucrative, with illegal criminals often paying gangs thousands of dollars to cross the Channel, that others are actually able to fill the vacated roles of those arrested by authorities. claims it will be filled soon.
UK Reform Party leader Nigel Farage said on Tuesday the government needed to back away from the boat approach. tell GB News: “Only by sending people back can we stop them from coming.”
Mr Farage pointed to the success of former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Operation Sovereign Borders, which virtually eliminated illegal immigration to the former British Dominion.
“Australia’s Tony Abbott was told he couldn’t do anything about votes from Indonesia, but do you know what he did in 2012? He towed them to Indonesia, but I guess what happened is that the boats stopped coming. We have to do the same,” said the head of the reformatory.
Mr Farage acknowledged that “the French would not like it”, but pointed out that Britain had given Paris hundreds of millions of dollars to tighten border enforcement, but had largely failed to stop the ships.
“In life, there are lots of arguments about why things can't be done, but what about arguments about why things can be done?”
