The number of illegal boat migrants who have crossed into Britain via the English Channel is now twice the figure for the same time last year.
Over 20,000 migrants have now illegally crossed the English Channel in small boats so far in 2022, a figure that represents just under double the number who had made the crossing by this time last year.
According to a report by The Telegraph, a total of 20,017 migrants have landed in Britain as of last Saturday, with official Home Office statistics noting that a further 283 made the dangerous crossing in six separate vessels on Sunday.
This represents a nearly 10,000 migrant increase over last year’s figure, with the publication reporting that around 11,300 had made the journey last year as of August 15.
Notably, this figure does not include boat migrants who land in Britain undetected or migrants who reach Britain by other illicit means, for example by stowing away in vehicles or overstaying visas.
Also noted by The Telegraph is the fact that around 15,000 of this year’s boat arrivals landed in Britain after it was announced that some migrants who entered Britain illegally would be sent to Rwanda and be allowed to claim asylum there, with Home Secretary Priti Patel’s hare-brained scheme now appearing to provide little disincentives to prospective economic migrants looking at coming to the United Kingdom.
Nevertheless, the scheme has been blamed by officials in Ireland for the sudden massive surge in the number of migrants claiming asylum in their country — though no Irish politician appears to have dared speculate that this surge could more reasonably be put down to a near-blanket illegal migrant amnesty scheme launched in the country earlier in the year.
While the plan to send boat migrants to Rwanda appears to have been ineffective at stopping the wave of migration, Britain is by no means the only country experiencing a sudden surge in arrivals.
Having already mentioned Ireland as a new hotspot for migrants, Italy has also experienced another sizable uptick in the number of illegals landing by boat in the state, with over 45,000 having arrived in the country to date compared to 32,533 who made the journey by this time last year.
Of this number, 13,197 landed in July alone — the highest number of arrivals in a month since 2017.
Things do not appear to be slowing down this month either, with over 4,230 having arrived in the country this month as of August 12th.
The migrant surge is likely only to further fuel the popularity of populist parties in the country, a coalition of which is now expected to romp home during the country’s upcoming general election in September.
“We can’t wait to return to the government to take care of work, security, and defence of Italy,” former Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini — whose Lega party is set to become a member of the country’s new government if polling is accurate — previously said regarding the migrant situation.
“We need a minister ready to defend the borders, we owe it out of respect for Italians in difficulty,” he went on to say.