More than 20,000 migrants have attempted to cross the Channel from France this year, an increase of 68% from the previous year.
This year, 11,643 people have arrived in the UK on small boats, more than double the number who arrived at this time last year.
The number of migrants attempting to cross the English Channel from France to England increased by 68 percent in the first half of 2022, according to France’s interior ministry.
Between January 1 and June 13, there were 777 attempted crossings involving 20,132 people, according to the department, with the majority of the crossings being halted by French security authorities.
This weekend, more than 300 migrants crossed the Channel to reach Britain, making it the busiest crossing since April.
Seven more migrants facing deportation to Rwanda have filed new challenges in the High Court this afternoon.
Last week, European Judges stopped the first deportation flight to Rwanda only minutes before it was scheduled to take off.
The removal plane of Home Secretary Priti Patel was scheduled to take off on Tuesday, but it was postponed due to a late intervention by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Justice Swift had already rejected previous appeals from persons who were on the plane.
The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal against a judge’s refusal to postpone the deportation of an asylum claimant.
In 2021, a total of 28,526 migrants crossed the Channel, a notable increase over the 8,410 who did so in 2020.
According to French authorities, 52,000 persons attempted to cross the border in 2021, with 28,000 of them succeeding.
Seven additional cases have been filed by migrants in the High Court in the hopes of halting their deportation.
The proceedings will take place later this afternoon in front of Justice Swift at the Royal Courts of Justice, and are estimated to last roughly two and a half hours.
Before the ECHR’s unexpected late-night intervention, several migrants stated they felt like they were being headed for “execution.”
On Friday, the government stated that refugees arriving in tiny boats in the English Channel might be electronically marked.
They will also face punishment if they do not comply, according to the Home Office’s new 12-month plans.
Those who enter the UK via unsafe or ‘unnecessary’ ways will be given tags as part of the experimental scheme.
However, this could include refugees who have been subjected to torture or trafficking.
The 130 people who were supposed to go aboard the first deportation trip to Rwanda before it was canceled are the first to be marked.
Secretary of State Dominic Raab is now looking into whether ministers can ignore last-minute Strasbourg court judgements in instances that have already been assessed by British judges.
Despite the ECHR’s judgement, the Home Secretary has promised to continue with the Rwanda policy, and has already begun preparing a new round of flights.
However, it is expected that no final decision on travel will be made until the full effects of the Strasbourg verdict are known.
It’s unclear whether the last-minute order is broad enough to prevent all migrants from being deported.
The Home Secretary expressed her disappointment and surprise at Strasbourg’s decision to ignore British courts, but warned MPs that legal challenges to the policy were “inevitable.”
Miss Patel announced the Rwanda policy on April 14, the day after 651 individuals crossed the English Channel, the largest number this year.
Government attorneys are looking into whether some people, such as those who do not claim to have been subjected to ill-treatment in their home countries, might be exempt from the conditions of the ECHR order and could still be flown to Kigali.
Miss Patel told MPs that ‘the usual suspects’ had set out to ‘thwart’ the scheme, an apparent allusion to the campaign organizations and human rights attorneys who have undertaken repeated legal cases.
She slammed the ECHR’s’very opaque’ decision late Tuesday night, which resulted in the cancellation of the inaugural flight.
When the trip was canceled, it is believed that a number of migrants were already aboard a chartered Boeing 767 at the Ministry of Defence air base in Boscombe Down, Wiltshire.
Miss Patel also attacked’mobs’ who attempted to stop refugees being transported by blocking the A4 near Heathrow’s Colnbrook immigration removal centre.