Record number: 700 migrants arrive in the United Kingdom in a single day | Migrations

More than 700 migrants arrived in the United Kingdom on Wednesday, after crossing the English Channel in small boats, a record this year, when the British Government wants to put an end to these crossings.

According to Home Office data published on Thursday, 711 migrants on 14 vessels crossed the inlet of the sea that separates Great Britain from continental Europe the day before. The previous record of 2024, on April 14, recorded 534 people making the dangerous crossing in one day.

This is without counting 66 migrants, including women and children, who were rescued on Wednesday off Dieppe, France, when their boat was in trouble. According to French authorities, the migrants were taken back to Dieppe.

A few months before the legislative elections, the United Kingdom’s Conservative Government considers it a priority to put an end to the crossing of the English Channel by immigrants. A controversial law, approved on April 23, aims to deport thousands of immigrants to Rwanda by the end of the year. Their asylum applications would be considered in Rwanda, with no option of returning to the UK, regardless of the outcome.

To prepare for the deportations, which are expected to begin within nine to 11 weeks, several operations were carried out across the country this week to detain an undetermined number of illegal immigrants. The Ministry of the Interior published photographs showing men being handcuffed and escorted in metal mesh vans. The Government insists that the law will have a deterrent effect.

Channel crossings hit an all-time high in the first four months of 2024, with more than 8,000 migrants arriving on English shores, the majority coming from Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey.