strait
Around 350 migrants cross the English Channel to Britain
A group of migrants have been taken on board a British Border Patrol ship. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
In Great Britain, more migrants are arriving again on the dangerous route by boat across the English Channel. The British government is putting further pressure on this.
Within two days, around 350 migrants made their way across the English Channel to Great Britain on small boats. That figure is based on information from the UK Ministry of Defense and a BBC report that includes eyewitness sightings on Monday.
Previously there had been a break in the crossings – probably due to difficult weather conditions. According to counts by the British news agency, at least 6,947 migrants have already crossed the English Channel from France to Great Britain this year. That is more than three times as many as at this time last year (around 2000) and even more than six times as many as in 2020, when around 1000 people arrived by the beginning of May.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel had promised that immigration could be tightened after Brexit. Because of the increasing numbers, Patel in particular is under a lot of pressure in her Conservative Party.
Britain signed an agreement with Rwanda to deter economic migrants. After arriving illegally in the UK, male migrants are to be flown to the East African country to await a decision on their asylum application. The opposition and human rights activists sharply criticized the agreement.