Inter-gang rivalries have led to an alarming rise in migrant violence, as GB News can exclusively reveal eight small boat migrants arrived in the UK with stab injuries in the past 12 months.
The boiling tensions come as thousands of migrants converge on northern France ahead of an expected huge summer surge in small boat crossings.
Just this week, one migrant was stabbed to death and two others seriously injured in separate incidents around Calais.
One senior maritime security source told GB News the increase in violence was "extremely concerning".
A screengrab of migrants departing France in a small boat
GB NEWS
He added: "We're seeing gang rivalries, disputes between different factions, and rows over paying the people smugglers.
"This does affect us. These are often violent young men, who arrive in the UK and enter into our asylum system.
"The fact more of them are now arriving in UK waters with serious injuries, gives an indication of how things are rapidly deteriorating."
GB News sources submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Home Office, asking how many migrants arriving in Dover required treatment for stab injuries in the past 12 months.
Migrants gather at a bus stop in northern France
GB NEWS
The Home Office confirmed that a total of eight migrants required medical treatment for stab-related injuries from 22 March 2024 to 21 March 2025.
Five of those injured were stabbed before they boarded their small boats, three were injured in incidents on board boats.
French authorities had to deal with two serious incidents this week in which multiple migrants were stabbed.
In one incident near Saint-Omer in the Pas-de-Calais, a 19-year-old Afghan migrant died after being stabbed in public gardens.
In the port of Calais, two migrants were stabbed in an incident on Monday night.
A Sudanese man was taken to hospital after suffering severe stab wounds to the chest and is reported to be in a critical condition.
The other migrant was also treated in hospital. A police investigation is ongoing and at least one arrest has been made.
Border officials meet Channel crossing migrants
GB NEWS
GB News has been told that a number of people smugglers, who left the beaches of northern France over the winter, are now returning.
Among them, are people smugglers from Albania, who spent the winter months in Italy, but have now made the journey back to France.
One video, posted by an Albanian people smuggling network, shows a large group of male migrants being led along a country path towards the French coast.
In another example of those massing near French beaches, GB News has obtained another video of a huge number of migrants queuing at a bus stop near Dunkirk.
Migrants often use free bus services in the area to take them from their makeshift campsites to charity feeding stations and to the beaches where their boats are launched.
The French Government has ordered a change of tactics from authorities dealing with small boat launches.
After some weeks of training, French police will be able to intervene and push small boats back to shore in shallow water.
GB News has been shown another video that shows French police standing by as migrants attempt to launch a boat from the beach.
There is no apparent attempt by the French to puncture the boat, which is a current policing tactic in France.
Instead, when the boat suffers engine problems, the officers - without getting their feet wet - gesture to the migrants to come off the boat and back onto the beach.
The video will infuriate those who want to see French authorities adopt a more robust approach to policing small boat migrants.
GB News has seen footage of migrants gathering in northern France
GB NEWS
Already this year, record numbers of migrants have crossed the Channel illegally.
Another small group arrived in Dover in the early hours on Wednesday, despite strong winds in the Channel.
It takes the number who have crossed to the UK so far this year to 9,637.
That figure is 40 per cent up on the numbers who crossed at this point last year.
A Home Office spokesman said: "We have already secured agreement from the French to deploy a new elite unit of officers at the coast, launch a specialist intelligence unit, increase police numbers and introduce new powers for the French authorities to intervene in shallow waters.
"We are introducing tougher enforcement powers with new legislation and intensifying our collaboration with France and other countries who face the same challenges by exploring fresh and innovative measures to dismantle the business models of the criminal smuggling gangs."
