Number of stowaways on boats from France to UK rises despite Rwanda deportation plan
This week saw a new high in UK immigration statistics. A total of 1,295 adults and minors were intercepted by authorities crossing the Channel on Monday 22. This was released Tuesday by the Ministry of Defense and is the highest number recorded in 24 hours on the busy route between France and England since 2018. The previous peak occurred on November 11 last year, when 1,185 migrants aboard precarious boats arrived on British shores. The following week, 27 people were shipwrecked when the inflatable boat they embarked on leaked off the coast of Normandy. Most were Iraqi Kurds.
So far in August 6,174 made the same journey and arrived alive on the beaches and harbors of the English south-east. Official figures for 2022 point to a growing wave of alleged illegal immigrants entering the country in small and fragile boats – there are already 22,670, almost twice as many as a year ago – despite the tightening of the refugee law and the deportation agreement with Rwanda. The Central African country has received an initial grant of around EUR 140 million to receive and process asylum applications from foreigners whom the United Kingdom refuses to accept within its borders.
The initiative was aborted in June after intervention by the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled in favor of an ‘irregular’ minute before his planned deportation to Kigali on a plane from the Spanish company Privilege Style. Meanwhile, the UK Supreme Court will hear in September a ban on the legality of the Association of Migration and Economic Development – the official title of the treaty with Rwanda – ratified by now acting Prime Minister Boris Johnson, without the approval of the Parliament. The UN refugee agency has denounced the plan and the new immigration law.
The political strategy with the refugees from the Channel has the support of the two candidates for the head of government and the leadership of the Conservative party. Leader Liz Truss described it as “absolute priority” to solve the “small boat problem and the deplorable trade of people smugglers”. “I will use all the tools to make it happen,” he said during the campaign. The Interior Ministry is still looking for African destinations other than Rwanda where it can export migrants it deems illegal.
The deportation plan aims to “deter people from making dangerous journeys, facilitated by criminal smugglers, to seek asylum in the UK”. The goal is not being achieved, Defense data suggests. In the months following the announcement of the agreement with Rwanda, 2,884 migrants were discovered in May, 3,139 in June and 3,683 in July. The bad weather and the lack of a rock-solid agreement with France and the rest of the EU seem to be more decisive for the migration flow through the English Channel.
Source: La Verdad
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
