The number of illegal migrants who crossed the English Channel in 2024 increased by 25 per cent over the previous year, according to initial government figures.
In 2024, 36,816 illegals were recorded crossing the Channel in small boats from the beaches of France. This was a 25 per cent rise over the previous year when 29,437 boat migrants successfully crossed the waterway, Sky News reported.
While it declined from the record year of 2022, when 45,774 illegals were recorded crossing the Channel, 2024 was still higher than any other year but ’22 since the crisis began in 2018.
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 treacherous waterway. However, the French claim that the number was lower, reporting 55 deaths.
Despite vowing to the public to tackle the crisis, the left-wing Labour Party government oversaw 23,242 illegal landings by boat migrants since coming to power in July, a 29 per cent increase over the same period in 2023, The Telegraph reported.
Upon coming into office, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer immediately scrapped the scheme put forward by previous governments to send boat migrants immediately to detention centres in Rwanda rather than allowing illegals to remain in Britain while their asylum claims were processed.
Over 150,000 Illegal Migrants Have Landed in Britain Since Crisis Beganhttps://t.co/c2Y2TEIvdD
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) December 27, 2024
Instead of deterring migrants from trying to come to the UK with threats of immediate removal, the leftist government pinned its hopes on slowing the tide of illegals by targeting the people smuggling gangs responsible for facilitating their crossings.
A Home Office spokesman said Wednesday: “The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.”
Critics have argued that because the human trafficking trade is so lucrative, with illegals often paying gangs thousands to cross the Channel, others will quickly fill the role vacated by those who are actually caught by authorities.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said Tuesday that the government must adopt a turn back the boats approach, telling GB News that “only by sending people back do we stop them coming.”
Mr Farage pointed to the success of former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Operation Sovereign Borders, which essentially eliminated illegal boat migration to the former British Dominion.
“Tony Abbott in Australia was told he couldn’t do anything about the votes coming from Indonesia but in 2012, do you know what he did? He towed them back to Indonesia, guess what happened happened, the boats stopped coming. We must do the same,” the Reform boss said.
Mr Farage acknowledged that the “French will hate it” but noted that Britain has given Paris hundreds of millions to step up border enforcement but have largely failed in stopping the boats.
“We are full of arguments in life about why we can’t do things, what about arguments as to why we can do things?”
Farage: Trump Election a ‘Pivot Point’ for Anglosphere, Shows ‘Political Revolution’ Is Possiblehttps://t.co/KO5umwLhte
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) November 17, 2024
