Migrants including children make dangerous Channel crossing in dark

2022-08-22

Eight boats carrying ‘300’ migrants including children land in Dover and Dungeness this morning after making dangerous Channel crossing in busiest month for arrivals this year

Last week saw 600 people arrive in a single day as small boat crossings spiked
Those entering UK waters hit 21,164 since January 1, the Ministry of Defence said
And this morning saw groups of men and young children on boats enter Dover

Over 300 migrants including children have reportedly arrived this morning at Dover after small boat crossings surged to 21,000 this year.

Eight boats were seen pulling into Dover and Dungeness today after making dangerous Channel crossings as this month saw the busiest time for arrivals this year.

Last week more than 600 hundred people arrived in a single day on Wednesday according to official figures released by the Ministry of Defence.

Wednesday’s figures take the total number of Channel migrants who have made it to UK waters to 21,164 since January 1.

There are also predictions that the numbers travelling to the UK could increase even further as the National Strategy for Maritime Security said up to 250,000 migrants will make come to the UK through the Channel by 2027.

The news comes as an FOI revealed that more than 50 migrants over 30 were registered as children in the last decade after lying about their age and officials fear migrants with no previous convictions are being drawn into serious crime to repay debts they owe people traffickers.

A child is helped down by an RNLI worker as they are taken off the Dungeness, Kent boat

A group of migrants are seen on Dungeness beach as eight boats are seen bringing migrants in this morning

Migrants including children have arrived in the dark at Dover in the early of hours of this morning after small boat crossings hit 21,000. Pictured: Members of RNLI escort migrants back to Dover Docks after they were rescued in the English Channel in the early hours this morning

A woman brings a child into Dover this morning after 21,000 migrants arrived in the UK this year on small boats

Those making the dangerous Channel crossings also spiked last week as more than 600 hundred arrived in a single day last week according to official figures released by the Ministry of Defence. Pictured: Border Force and the military brought them ashore at Dover

A group of men stand on an RNLI boat in Dover as they are taken into the UK

Group of migrants were picked up in the English Channel By an RNLI lifeboat and brought into Dungeness, Kent

More than 50 migrants over 30 were registered as children in the last decade after lying about their age upon arriving in Britain, according to Home Office figures.

Data obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests reveals that 52 in total managed to claim that they were children in initial checks, before being found to be 30 or older.

Figures also showed that 1,500 adult migrants claimed to be children in 2021.

This is the highest number since records began in 2006 and more than four times the 364 from 2020.

In an eight-year period, from 2012-2020, 355 migrants a year on average claimed to be children and they were found to be adults after more checks.

And in 2021, almost two thirds of resolved age disputes showed that the claimant was an adult.

Alp Mehmet, chair of Migration Watch, told the Telegraph: ‘These are astonishing figures that reveal a seriously worrying situation. There is absolutely no excuse for placing people much nearer middle-age than childhood among vulnerable minors.’

‘No individual, where doubts about age exist, should be allowed anywhere near vulnerable youngsters, in any setting. The safety of our children has to be paramount.’

A man gives a thumbs up as he steps onto the gangway to Dover Docks this morning

Two children with a man and a woman are pictured coming off the boats this morning

The news comes as more than 5,000 Albanians reached Britain across the English Channel so far this year, with over half of Wednesday’s 600 arrivals from the Balkan state.

A total of 606 people were taken off 12 small boats on Wednesday, in the fourth time this year more than 60 travelled to the UK.

The number of Albanian small boat migrants is increasing ‘exponentially’, and they make up more than 60 per cent of those on some individual boats, sources said.

Officials fear migrants with no previous convictions are being drawn into serious crime such as drug gangs in order to repay debts they owe people traffickers, posing a significant risk to the British public.

Men are pictured on the beach at Dungeness in Kent after being brought on shore

Pictured: Migrant men are seen near RNLI and military officers in life jackets

An officer is seen with a woman this morning as she holds a child in Dover

‘You have a hardcore of criminals who keep re-circulating around the system,’ a source said.

‘But the numbers now mean that you’ve got people who are mostly unknown to the system coming in as well, which I find a little bit more worrying because we don’t know anything about them.

‘Some of it is because they are just cleanskins in Albania. At least if we know something about someone who arrives, we can detain them.’

‘Cleanskins’ is a term originally used by security services in Northern Ireland to describe recruitment of terrorists with no criminal record by IRA and Loyalist paramilitaries.

There has also been a significant up-tick in the number of Albanians arriving by other routes, such as ‘clandestines’ in the back of lorries.

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