Migrant crisis: 212 people in just three boats brought to British shores after braving Channel waves
As many as 212 people in just three boats brought to British shores
PA
Three small boats laden with migrants have been brought to British shores as the UK prepares for the arrival of Storm Agnes.
As many as 212 migrants were on board the vessels which were brought to shore yesterday.
It is estimated that there were around 71 people per boat on average.
The reports mark the first migrant arrivals following a week of windy conditions that have made the crossing perilous.
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The reports mark the first migrant arrivals following a week of windy conditions that have made the crossing perilous.
According to the Home Office, it marks the first migrant crossing in nine days.
The new arrivals bring the cumulative number of arrivals by small boats in 2023 to around 24,208.
Total arrivals last year stood at 45,774 with the current total number of small boat arrivals so far this year being around 24 per cent below the equivalent number at this point last year.
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It is estimated that there were around 71 people per boat on average.
PA
More than 32,200 people had made the crossing by September 26 2022, compared with 24,208 detected so far in 2023.
It comes after a young woman was found dead on a Calais beach after attempting to make the crossing and claim asylum in the UK.
The woman, reported to be from Eritrea, had attempted to cross the British Channel but fell from a small boat and drowned.
“Her body was found at around 5.40am on Blériot beach, in Calais, following a night of intense activity involving migrants crossing to England,” an investigating source said.
Workers prepare for arrival of migrants at Dover
PA
“Another migrant found her and alerted the authorities.
“Prosecutors in Boulogne have established that she was a 24-year-old Eritrean who was hoping to claim asylum in the United Kingdom.
“They have opened a criminal investigation.
“Medical examinations are still being carried out, but she undoubtedly died from drowning after falling off a boat.
“A request for assistance has been sent to the British authorities, to find witnesses on board the boat she was on. It is believed to have reached the United Kingdom.
Braverman’s comments prompted strong criticism from campaigners, while the United Nations’ refugee agency rejected her call for the definition of who qualifies for protection to be “tightened”.
Ms Braverman claimed there had been a change over the years which has seen more people enter the system as the bar for qualification has lowered.
She described the “interpretive shift away from ‘persecution’, in favour of something more akin to a definition of ‘discrimination’, as well as a “similar shift away from a ‘well-founded fear’ toward a ‘credible’ or ‘plausible fear'”.
Suella Braverman is in the US to deliver her speech on migrationPAThe Home Secretary said the consequences of these shifts had been to expand the number of people who might qualify for asylum “and to lower the threshold for doing so”.
She added: “Let me be clear, there are vast swathes of the world where it is extremely difficult to be gay, or to be a woman.
“Where individuals are being persecuted, it is right that we offer sanctuary.
“But we will not be able to sustain an asylum system if in effect, simply being gay, or a woman, and fearful of discrimination in your country of origin, is sufficient to qualify for protection.”
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