Status: 07/20/2021 1:57 p.m.
In a rubber dinghy across the English Channel: Hundreds of migrants pay smugglers to bring them to the British coast. 430 people managed the dangerous crossing in one day alone – a new record.
According to official figures, at least 430 migrants crossed the English Channel from France to Great Britain yesterday. Around 50 people arrived in the Kent border region on a single rubber dinghy, the BBC reported.
According to the Interior Ministry, this is a new high. Previously, the record was 416 people who crossed the canal on one day in early September 2020.
On the way to Dover: A group of migrants on a lifeboat in the English Channel in early July 2021.
Image: dpa
In distress
Especially when the weather is good, migrants from France, where they often come from refugee camps, make the dangerous crossing. Many use the services of smugglers. According to official information, almost 8,000 people will have reached the UK via the channel this year.
A week ago, more than 100 migrants were rescued from distress on the English Channel within one day, including at least eleven women and two children. The responsible French authority announced that they had been in several boats from France to Great Britain. The migrants were brought back to France.
Government in London wants to prevent crossings
The British government wants to act with all its might against the crossings and calls on France again and again to take stronger action against it. According to the BBC, the Ministry of the Interior said again that “decisive steps will be taken to tackle the problem of illegal migration.”
Interior Minister Priti Patel had previously announced that asylum seekers who entered the country via illegal routes would in the long term be given fewer rights than others. Regaining control over one’s own borders is a key promise of Brexit.