Just hours after a new legislation went into effect frightening traffickers with life in prison, at least 100 migrants, including toddlers covered in waterproof jackets and bobble hats, arrived in Dover this morning.
At least four children were among the first visitors, a group of about 40 people who touched down on the beach at Dungeness, Kent, at the crack of dawn.
UK officers helped them across the stepping stones to safety and gave them water bottles.
At 7.30 am, a rigid-hull inflatable boat (RHIB) from the Border Force was used to transport an additional 10 people to Dover.
After being helped from the boat by soldiers wearing camouflage fatigues and having their things transported to safety in rucksacks and bin bags, another five Border Force RHIBs took another 50 men into the harbor over the course of the following hour and a half.
It follows the Nationality and Borders Act, which went into effect yesterday and increased the sentence for people who smuggle immigrants into the UK from 14 years to life in jail.
Amid worries that the policy won’t stop individuals from crossing the Channel, pressure has continued to mount on Home Secretary Priti Patel after migrants who have recently arrived in Britain have declared they will refuse to board flights meant to send them back to Rwanda.
About 50 soldiers were present to support Border Force operations when the boat neared the harbor in Dover this morning. It is thought the Army personnel are present as part of training.
First, those with children were assisted in leaving the boat. As he exited the ship, one man was spotted holding a small child wearing a pink bobble cap in his arms.
Two women, one holding a sleeping toddler and the other a young boy wearing a red beanie, followed him.
When they got to the gangway, the soldiers gave them blankets to encircle the kids.
A short while later, another family was escorted along the boardwalk, this time with a toddler and boy in an all-in-one rain suit who was in elementary school.
According to data released by the Ministry of Defense, although today’s official figures have not yet been confirmed, the number of people making the perilous crossing of the 21-mile Dover Straits today represents a significant increase from Tuesday, when only 25 migrants crossed the Channel in one boat (MoD).
It brings the overall number of persons saved while attempting to enter the UK in dinghies and other small ships to 12,337 thus far this year, more than double the number at this point last year.
Compared to 8,410 who arrived in 2020, 28,526 persons made the border in 2021, according to official government statistics.
The Dover MP Natalie Elphicke stated: “These horrific numbers demonstrate once more the need for immediate action.”
It is disheartening that some who ought to know better are undermining the government’s attempts to preserve lives and put an end to people traffickers.
They ought to reconsider and back the measures being taken to stop these perilous excursions.
Let’s not overlook the callous disrespect for everyone that these criminal smuggling gangs have.
There have been far too many fatalities in futile attempts to cross the English Channel. It should finish.