At least 482 migrants crossed the Channel on Wednesday (August 4th) to reach the English coast, the British Home Office announced on Thursday. This is the highest daily figure recorded so far. The previous one dated July 19, with 430 arrivals in one day.
Although the ministry does not communicate a cumulative balance sheet, according to the count of the British press agency PA, more than 10,000 people have crossed the Strait, one of the busiest in the world, since the start of the year. , aboard small boats, which is much more than during the whole of last year (more than 8,000).
French authorities intercepted eight crossings on Wednesday, preventing 246 people from reaching the UK, according to the UK Home Office. According to Commander Dan O’Mahoney, in charge of the “clandestine threat” in the Channel, “These figures are unacceptable, which is why we are acting on all fronts”. “The police are dismantling the smuggling gangs”, and “Joint work with the French has made it possible to double the number of police officers on French beaches”, he added.
Reform of the British asylum system
The issue is regularly the source of friction between London and Paris, but the United Kingdom pledged, at the end of July, to pay 62.7 million euros to France in 2021-2022 to finance the reinforcement the presence of French security forces on the coasts.
The British Parliament began before the summer recess to pass Home Secretary Priti Patel’s reform of the asylum system, marking a tightening promised under Brexit. Presented by the Minister as “Fair but firm”, but denounced by associations for the defense of human rights, this reform, which aims to discourage illegal immigration, plans to treat asylum seekers differently depending on whether they have arrived in the country legally or illegally.
Concretely, the bill plans to increase to four years, from six months currently, the prison sentence incurred by migrants who seek to enter the country illegally, and to increase the maximum sentence incurred by smugglers to prison. for life – against fourteen years’ imprisonment at present.
