Channel migrant crossings hit 872 in new daily record for 2023: Britain

London – The number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats from northern France to Britain hit a new daily high for 2023, British government statistics released on Sunday showed.

Some 872 migrants aboard 15 vessels made the perilous journey across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes on Saturday, beating this year’s previous 24-hour high of 756 on Aug 10. It brings the total number to have arrived on the shores of south-east England so far in 2023 to more than 21,000.

That is less than the level seen at this point in 2022 but still presents a major political and practical headache for the British government.

Britain promised tighter border controls after the country left the European Union, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made “stopping the boats” a key priority.

His Conservative government has branded the cross-Channel route “illegal” and passed legislation blocking asylum applications from anyone arriving without prior authorisation.

It also wants to

send migrants to Rwanda for processing and resettlement there,

but both policies are on hold amid a legal challenge to the African relocation plans.

More than 100,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel on small boats from France to south-east England since Britain began publicly recording the arrivals in 2018.

They have strained

Britain’s asylum system,

with a growing backlog of more than 175,000 people, including children, waiting for an initial decision at the end of June.

The route has also repeatedly proved dangerous, with numerous capsizes and scores of migrants drowning in the Channel’s waters over the last decade. AFP