UK immigration officials have become so overwhelmed by the number of new arrival migrants they have been forced to register them in car parks and feed them takeaway pizza.
Border Force agents are also concerned about overcrowding in migrant facilitates and how that could lead to violence and unrest among the migrants as more and more new arrivals come to the UK across the English Channel in small boats.
On July 19th, the UK saw its highest daily number of new migrant arrivals with 430 arriving that day alone, far more than the Kent migrant reception facility can handle, as it is only meant to take in 380 people at a time, The Times reports.
“We were processing them in the car parks — in full view of the public,” a Border Force and Immigration Enforcement official told the newspaper and noted that due to a lack of space, there were no cooking facilities for the migrants, so the border officials ordered them pizza instead.
“Some hadn’t eaten for 24 hours. There’s only so many times you can give them packets of biscuits and crisps,” the official stated.
According to the Times, new migrant arrivals are not allowed food until they are tested for the Wuhan coronavirus and are only allowed snacks after the tests are conducted.
“There is a serious risk of unrest. There is usually a reluctance among migrants to kick off this early into their arrival but when they can’t be fed because they’ve got to be Covid-tested, they start to get very restless,” the official added.
While July 19th saw the largest number of arrivals in a single day to the UK, the number of attempts has remained high, with last weekend seeing nearly 600 migrants attempt to cross the English Channel and 378 of them successfully making the journey to the UK.
Home Secretary Priti Patel commented on the ongoing surge at the southern border, saying: “The British public should be in no doubt of our unwavering determination to stop these dangerous crossings from safe EU countries and take down the evil criminal gangs behind them.”
The numbers look to continue as reports claim as many as 2,000 migrants have gathered along the northern French coast, while over 9,000 others have successfully reached the UK this year so far.