Migrants crossing English Channel top 75,000 in past four years

A total of 75,628 have made the journey since 2018, government figures show

Police officers and Royal National Lifeboat Institution crew with migrants rescued in the English Channel, at Dungeness in Kent on September 22. EPA

More than 75,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel since current records began four years ago, despite a raft of measures being drawn up in hopes of deterring people from making the physically dangerous journey.

UK government data shows that 75,628 have made the journey since 2018 when just a few hundred made the trek across one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

The undersea Channel Tunnel route into the UK from France has been a target for migrants for almost as long as it has existed but the Channel route, often in unseaworthy vessels, is a more recent issue.

On Thursday, the government's Rwanda policy — one of the measures aimed at dissuading people from attempting the crossing — was being challenged in the High Court. Charlotte Kilroy KC, representing charity Asylum Aid, said it was “inherently unlawful and unfair”.

Official Home Office figures show that between January 2018 and June 2022, 51,881 migrants were recorded as arriving in the UK. Since then, an additional 23,747 have been detected, according to provisional Ministry of Defence (MoD) data.

In 2018, 299 people were recorded making the journey. The next year, 1,843 crossings were recorded, with 8,466 in 2020 and 28,561 in 2021. The provisional total for 2022 is 36,459.

The number of migrants crossing the English Channel from northern Europe has reached record-breaking figures as people in Britain are experiencing an exceptionally hot summer. PA

A lady carries a toddler to a bus after a group of people thought to be migrants were brought in to Dover, Kent, on the south-east English coast. PA

A group of migrants are brought in to Ramsgate, Kent, on August 1 - the day on which almost 700 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK in a single day, a record for the year so far. PA

It was only the second time in 2022 that the daily figure has topped 600. PA

A woman carries a newborn baby in a life cradle as she is brought in to Dover on a Border Force vessel in July. PA

About 3,683 migrants made the crossing on 90 boats in July, the highest monthly total this year. PA

A warehouse in Dover for boats used by people trying to cross the Channel. PA

Migrants hold up an inflatable boat before attempting to cross the Channel to Britain, near the northern French city of Gravelines, in July. AFP

A police officer stands guard on the beach at Dungeness, England, as migrants get off a lifeboat after they were picked up at sea in June. AFP

A group of people thought to be migrants walk up the beach after being brought in to Dungeness in May. AP

Migrants on the beach at Dungeness, after crossing the English Channel in an inflatable dinghy in January. Reuters

The MoD said 856 migrants arrived in 19 boats on Wednesday, as Channel crossings continued for a fifth day in a row.

Children wrapped in blankets were pictured being carried to safety by lifeboat crews at Dungeness beach in Kent.

“The crisis in the Channel, driven by global migration and organised crime, is causing an unprecedented strain on our asylum system,” a government representative said.

“Despite the lies they have been sold by the people smugglers, migrants who travel through safe countries to illegally enter the UK will not be allowed to start a new life here.

“But ultimately nobody should put their lives at risk by taking dangerous and illegal journeys to the UK. We will go further and faster to tackle those gaming the system, using every tool at our disposal to deter illegal migration, disrupt the business model of people smugglers and relocate to Rwanda those with no right to be in the UK.”

Increased naval patrols, asking France to step up land operations and the Rwanda deportation policy are among the measures the government has tried to reduce the number of people attempting the trip.

The Home Office has been criticised by a watchdog for being too slow in processing the cases of migrants being held behind bars.

The “prolonged detention” of foreign detainees in jail under immigration powers because of the department’s “inefficiencies” is “inexcusable”, said Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor.

A review of conditions for immigration detainees found many were in prison for “long periods with little or no progress in their cases being made by the Home Office”.