100,000 migrants have crossed Channel since 2018 as another daily record falls

Migrant Channel crossing incidents Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

Migrant crossings reached the highest number in a single day for the year, as over 700 people arrived yesterday (Thursday).

Some 755 people crossed the English Channel on Thursday in 14 boats, as figures confirmed over 100,000 people have made the journey in the past five years.

Since current records began on January 1 2018, 100,715 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey, analysis of Government data shows.

The numbers were recorded as a major search and rescue operation was launched after 17 migrants went overboard and were pulled from the water. They were all taken ashore for medical checks.

Crossings have increased since then home secretary Sajid Javid declared a major incident amid the unfolding Channel crisis in 2018 Credit: Gareth Fuller/PA

Meanwhile, the Border Force reportedly suffered a double blow as one of its cutters broke down in the early hours of the morning and a £400,000 drone used to monitor activity in the Channel crashed into the sea.

The crossings come just weeks after sweeping asylum reforms became law and while the Government fends off legal challenges in the courts over its Rwanda deal.

They follow the decision to move asylum seekers onto the Bibby Stockholm barge on the Dorset coast after the plans were beset by delays.

The Illegal Migration Act, central to the Prime Minister’s pledge to “stop the boats” crossing the Channel, will prevent people from claiming asylum in the UK if they arrive through unauthorised means.

More than 100,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK in the last five-and-a-half-years Credit: PA

Officials are still working on when the legislation will come into force, and it is anticipated elements of the new laws may be implemented in stages over the coming months.

So far this year 15,826 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel, provisional Home Office figures show.

A record 45,755 people made the journey in 2022. That was 60% up on the 28,526 recorded for the whole of 2021, but lower than the 60,000 officials previously estimated could make the journey during that year.

The number of migrants crossing the Channel has steadily increased since 299 people were detected in 2018.

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