Some 67 illegal migrants are understood to have landed in Kent in the United Kingdom in the early hours of Christmas morning, setting a new record for boat migrant arrivals for the day.
The migrants took advantage of mild sea conditions and made the journey across the English Channel from northern France and arriving at Dover, The Telegraph reports.
The 67 people, believed to be from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran were collected by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Border Force, in the early hours of Christmas morning. The full number who made the crossing is unknown, as these figures of course only refer to the crossers caught by the British authorities.
The migrants were intercepted when travelling in two dinghies to Dover, with the first group being brought into Britain by the authorities at 12:10 am and the second less than an hour later. The French authorities were able to prevent a third boat from attempting to make the crossing.
The 67 number is, however, a new record for the largest number of migrants to ever arrive in Britain on Christmas Day. During Christmas Day in 2018 forty migrants were caught trying to cross the Channel by the British authorities.
The Telegraph report suggests that criminal gangs deliberately step up operations during the festive period, in the hope that there will be fewer patrols.
It was reported on the 21st of December that an estimated near-28,000 migrants have made the illegal crossing into Britain in 2021, and over 1,000 have crossed in December so far.
Accommodating these numbers of illegal migrants cost the British taxpayer an estimated £1.4 billion last year.
The British asylum system has been overwhelmed by the continuous influx of migrants and as a result, some of the facilities used to house illegal migrants have been branded “inadequate” by prison inspectors, with some migrants being temporarily housed in tents.
The crossing is extremely dangerous, as weather in the English Channel can be unpredictable, and the criminals orchestrating the trafficking are known to be ruthless, often cramming migrants overcapacity into unsafe dinghies.
Illegal migrants have also claimed that they were unaware of how they were going to be smuggled into Britain and some allege they were forced by people smugglers onto unsafe inflatable boats and dinghies at knife or gunpoint following payment of around £3,000.
In November this year, 27 migrants tragically died when their small boat capsized while trying to reach Britain, the deadliest day so far in the avoidable Channel crisis.