The number of migrants crossing the English Channel in boats this year has passed 5000 including 235 in a single day, the analysis shows. The UK government goes on with a “militarized” response to increasing numbers.
A further 8 migrants have arrived in England, last Friday risking their lives in rain showers and rough seas. 5 of the migrants introduced themselves as Sudanese and Chadian nationals and later were brought into Dover to be interrogated by the immigration officials. Analysis by PA Media shows the total number of migrant boat arrivals for 2020 exceeds 5,000, more than double, more than double migrants crossing the channel last year.
The breakthrough was passed after a Sudanese asylum seeker, Abdulfatah Hamdallah, was drowned in the Channel on Wednesday, when the supermarket-bought boat he was in, was punctured by the shovels.
UK governments continue to chase a hardline approach to the migrants. Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the UK stated “The UK needs to consider changes to asylum laws to deter migrants from crossing the English Channel. It was currently “very, very difficult” to legally return people who arrive in the UK from France using small boats.” though the humanitarian experts claim that the only way to reduce this crossing is to improve safe and legal routes for the asylum seekers to the UK.
Both the UK and French governments have taken different approaches to stop the rise in crossing, but it had increased tensions in both countries, including the Calais MP blaming the death of Hamdallah, on the UK’s policy of insisting asylum claims be made on British soil. The Labor party has accused the government of lacking “compassion and competence” in its summon and attempting to “militarize” the response to a humanitarian crisis.
Though the recent small- boat arrival tally was a record in the UK, it’s still lower than the European countries. According to the UN refugee agency, there have been 16,942 sea arrivals in Italy so far in 2020, also 10,875 in Spain and 8,697 in Greece.
The list of nationalities of the migrant declared by the Border Force included: Iraqi, Iranian, Sudanese, Yemeni, Syrian, Eritrean, Kuwaiti, Tajikistani, Vietnamese, Guinean, Malian, Ethiopian, Turkish, Afghan, Palestinian, Sri Lankan, Egyptian, Ethiopian, Pakistani, Chadian, Somali, Togolese, Nigerian, Libyan, South Sudanese, Albanian and Chinese.
Refugees and migrants began entering the United Kingdom by crossing the English Channel in small boats in November 2018. They arrived in small craft and while some slip into the UK unnoticed, others are apprehended on British beaches, or rescued when the craft they are riding in founder off-shore. The British government blames criminal gangs for arranging the crossings.
