The number of illegal migrant crossings on the English Channel have hit an all-time yearly high, with 2022 already shredding last year’s total record.
More migrants have now illegally crossed the English Channel in 2022 than in any other year, with this year’s illegal migrant crossings figure having already surpassed last year’s record with three months to spare.
The milestone cements outgoing Home Secretary Priti Patel’s legacy of failure, with the official resigning in shame last to be replaced by ardent Brexiteer Suella Braverman, who is now looking at further measures aimed at cleaning up after her predecessor.
According to a report by The Guardian, Monday’s figure of 601 migrants crossing the Channel illegally puts the annual figure for this year at 28,561.
This surpasses last year’s official figure of 28,526 having been detected by UK authorities crossing the English Channel.
What’s more, with Albanian human traffickers using every means to boost the number of illegals entering the country via the route, it appears highly likely that this new record will continue to surge even further.
According to The Telegraph, some criminals are even using the Queen’s death as an excuse to bump their profits from the dangerous voyages, offering cut-price places on small boats for illegals who want “to take part in the funeral of this lady”.
While government sources have slammed the social media promotions used by people smugglers to boost illegal migrant numbers as “totally unacceptable”, the UK’s Home Office has so far completely failed to get a handle on the crisis, with the various measures implemented by the department’s previous Secretary, Priti Patel, proving to be useless at curbing arrivals.
Patel has since been forced to resign her position in the senior ministry in shame, banished to the back benches of the UK Tory party. Suella Braverman, a hardcore Brexiteer, has been installed at the helm of the department by newly minted Prime Minister Liz Truss but there has not yet been time to see whether there will be any improvement.
Braverman has already expressed a desire to see immigration controls tightened further to allow the British government to get a handle on the crisis, with the senior politician even looking at ways of stationing UK border control officers on the beaches of France, though such a move has proven extremely contentious with the French government in the past.
“This is not just a manifesto pledge, people are dying,” the new home secretary previously said in regards to the crisis.
The British cabinet member has her work cut out for her though, with a surging number of migrants — noted as mainly being from the Muslim-majority European country of Albania — abusing the UK’s modern slavery laws, making it much harder for UK officials to see them deported home.
To make matters worse, bureaucrats within the UK’s civil service have frequently moved to block any and all efforts aimed at curbing illegal immigration, with bigwigs in NGOs and the European court system also frequently shooting down various measures put in place by British lawmakers.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.