Border Force officials escort 60 migrants stranded in the English Channel to Dover docks. Photo: Stuart Brock/LNP
More According to the Home Office, 10,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats since the beginning of the year.
Some 374 migrants arrived in the UK on Saturday after being picked up in the English Channel, bringing the total for 2023 to 10,139. In recent days, the number of crossings has increased after a period of calm at the beginning of the month, as smugglers took advantage of sunny weather, calmer seas and light winds.
The Ministry of the Interior reported 2,529 migrants arriving between June 10 and 17. This is more than 40 percent higher than at the same time in June 2022. The surge threatens to undermine Rishi Sunak's claims earlier this month that the government's boat stop policy is starting to work. /p>
He said at the time that clicks were down 20%, but the latest data for June cut the difference in half to 10.5%.
There is also evidence that the number of Albanian border crossings, which were significantly lower than last year until mid-May, has begun to rise. Last year, Albanians accounted for a quarter of the record 45,755 transfers, but at the beginning of the year they were just two percent. But most of their transitions only started from June to last summer.
This comes after The Telegraph reported that the Interior Ministry and the French government have joined forces to launch a reconnaissance aircraft that will fly over the English Channel 24/7 to catch smugglers.
This one the move is intended to reduce the overall number of migrants and vulnerable asylum seekers crossing the English Channel in small boats, seen as the «final piece of the puzzle» to reduce crossings.
French police
However, former minister Tim Lawton, a member of the home affairs committee, warned that until French police began to arrest migrants on the beaches of northern France, their interception of the departing boats would remain only a delaying tactic.
are not arrested. They will confiscate or destroy their boats, but the migrants will be allowed to disappear. Then they come back the next night, and the next night, and the next night. They should only be lucky once,” he said.
He urged the government to process asylum claims faster and ensure that those who were denied leave the UK “as soon as possible.”
“These are all the things that we need to do right, of which the Rwanda [deportation] scheme is a part, if and when it is up and running,” he added.
The government’s new bill on illegal migration will provide the minister Home Affairs Suelle Braverman has the power to detain anyone who enters the UK illegally and deport them to a safe third country such as Rwanda or their home country.
The Court of Appeal is due to rule within days on the legality of the Rwanda policy, under which flights can begin in the fall unless further appeal is lodged with the Supreme Court. Ministers see this as a key factor preventing migrants from crossing.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said: «These figures show a depressing failure of all the prime minister's bragging about progress on small craft, followed by a week of damned official reports of a growing backlog, rising hotel spending and border security failures.»
A Home Office spokesman said: «Our priority is to stop the boats, and our Small Boat Operational Command is working with our French partners and other agencies to stop human smuggling.»
Bill could hurt children «unacceptable» harm
Detaining migrant children under the government's new small boat laws could cause them 'unacceptable' physical and mental harm, a coalition of leading UK health organizations has warned.
The groups have written to Home Secretary Swella Braverman and Health Minister Steve Barclay , denouncing the child detention provisions set out in the Irregular Migration Act and asking for an urgent meeting with the couple.
The Royal Colleges of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Faculty of Public Health have warned that lifting a decade-long ban on child custody could cause children to experience post-traumatic stress disorder, clinical depression and suicidal behaviour.
Young migrants' mental and physical health is at risk when they are detained Photo: AFP
The bill, which is currently being discussed in the House of Lords, would allow for the detention of children arriving in the UK illegally and contains the right to expel unaccompanied minors. Those who are allowed to stay will only be allowed to do so until they are 18 years old and able to settle in the UK.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has previously responded to criticism of the plans by saying, that the children cannot be released, as this, in turn, may create a «pull factor» for people wishing to cross the border.
Conservative riot
Ministers have already faced a Conservative riot over the proposals and offered concessions that would place temporary limits on the length of detention and limit the circumstances in which unaccompanied children can be detained, though they are not consistent with maintaining the ban.
In their letter, the groups said: «As medical authorities and refugee organizations, we condemn the child detention provisions set out in the Irregular Migration Act and ask for an urgent meeting with you to discuss our concerns.» .
Signatories. the letter included Prof. Kevin Fenton, President of the School of Public Health, who urged the government to «put an end to these terrible proposals» and Prof. Andrew Rowland of the RCPCH, who said «Detaining children indefinitely could lead to unimaginable levels of harm and injury» .
Dr Ian Wise, Chair of the BMA Ethics Committee, said that many migrant children have already «experienced the traumatic migratory journey and the risk of detention exacerbating any current problems they may have.»< /p>
Dr. Adrian James, President of the RCP, said the bill's potential to allow children to be detained indefinitely is «completely unacceptable, especially when they are already among the most vulnerable members of society.»
< p>He added: “In previous years, the government has sought to impose strict restrictions on the detention of children. It is alarming to take such a giant step backwards, a return to an outdated and simply wrong way of thinking.”
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