Over 27,000 people have made the journey this year after nearly 1,000 migrants were stopped on Saturday as they attempted to cross the English Channel in small boats.
Before the arrival of harsher, wintry weather in the following weeks, people smugglers took advantage of calm sea conditions.
According to the most recent statistics made available by the Ministry of Defense, 960 people in 20 boats were spotted crossing the English Channel in the 24 hours leading up to last night’s midnight.
This brings the total number of people who have arrived in small boats at UK shores this year to 27,184, less than 1,400 short of the record number of 27,184 set last year.
In 2018, the UK started keeping track of daily small boat crossings.
Due to another day of settled weather, many people are anticipated to attempt the dangerous crossing today.
On Sunday, people were brought to shore using the Dungeness and Hastings lifeboats.
On Saturday, a flotilla of Border Force ships brought men, women, and children into the harbour at the port of Dover in Kent throughout the day.
Along with helping out, the Dungeness and Dover lifeboats made a remote beach landing on the Romney Marsh with another 50 people on board.
After their harrowing crossing of the 21-mile sea yesterday, women and children were seen making their way up the pebble beach while wearing blankets. Immigration officers and coaches were waiting for them there.
Small children were transported to the immigration processing facility at the former RAF Manston near Ramsgate by being carried up the gangway and to the quayside.
A mother and her daughter, who was probably five years old, were seen walking up the galvanised steel gangway hand in hand.
As she entered the UK, a baby was also seen dozing off in her mother’s arms.
Others, mostly men, stepped off the boats wearing only the clothes they were standing in, while some clutched rucksacks containing all of their possessions.
Army personnel also assisted a woman in a wheelchair onto the gangway and up to the dock.
Up until Friday, when 221 individuals landed in the UK on five boats, crossings this week were hampered by strong winds and rough seas.
Approximately 26,224 migrants have entered the country this year through small boats, according to official government statistics.
August broke a record last week when 8,644 persons accomplished the voyage, surpassing the 8,410 people who did it in dinghies and other small boats for the whole year of 2020.
“France has a moral and international duty to protect vulnerable people, save lives, halt people traffickers, and combat organised crime,” said Natalie Elphicke, MP for Dover. They shouldn’t need payment to do their duties.
The fact that we give them tens of millions of pounds and get so little in return is even more absurd. This is a shameful misuse of hard-earned tax dollars.
“The future Prime Minister’s first priority must be to resolve the small boats dilemma.”