Thousands of migrants have crossed into the UK so far this year

According to figures published by the British Home Office, more than 10,000 migrants have been spotted crossing the English Channel in unstable boats since the beginning of 2023. Yesterday, seven boats with 374 people on board arrived in the UK, according to a daily newspaper. The balance published by the government.

Since January, 10,139 migrants have arrived in the country via this route, which is lower than the number recorded during the same period the previous year. But despite the decrease in the number of arrivals, and after several weeks of bad weather, the crossings have increased again in recent days.

Between 10 and 17 June, more than 2,500 people reached British shores. During 2022, the authorities registered more than 45,000 irregular arrivals, which is a record number. At least 44 people were killed in this area last year.

The Conservative government has made combating irregular immigration one of its priorities. The executive branch last year approved a law allowing asylum seekers to be sent to Rwanda, although the law is currently blocked by the judiciary.

In March, he introduced a controversial bill aimed at limiting the arrival of irregular migrants by sea in unstable boats crossing the English Channel. Since 2018, nearly 88,000 people have made the perilous journey on one of the world’s busiest waterways, adding to the burden on the British asylum system.

According to official figures, more than 160,000 people were waiting for a decision on their asylum application in the UK at the end of December 2022, and most of them had waited more than six months. London also signed a series of agreements with countries such as France and Albania to reduce irregular migration.

Another plan promoted by the Ministry of the Interior was to convert the ships into floating accommodations for migrants with the aim of evacuating some of the hotels that had been converted into reception facilities. However, the British government was forced to abandon the initiative, which was harshly criticized by many NGOs and the opposition, after it received a refusal from the port authorities.