Elon Musk has put his weight behind a Reform MP's call to "detain and deport" illegal migrants after GB News revealed 500 "asylum seekers" crossed the English Channel on Sunday.
A sunny day on the South Coast saw a record day of arrivals - with the first small boat making its way into British waters shortly after 5am.
Then, throughout the morning and into the afternoon, multiple small boats were detected heading towards the UK.
After GB News brought the arrivals to light, Reform UK's Rupert Lowe wrote on social media: "We need to get real.
'Every single one of these fake asylum seekers needs to be immediately deported,' Lowe said
PA
"Honestly, every single one of these fake asylum seekers needs to be immediately deported.
"I do NOT want these men in our country, and I make NO apologies for stating that.
"This has gone on for too long. Detain, deport. This is the ONLY way."
On Monday morning, tech magnate and close Donald Trump ally Elon Musk handed Lowe a one-word message of support: "Yes."
MORE ON THE MIGRANT CRISIS:
Elon Musk handed Lowe a one-word message of support on Monday
REUTERS
The tech tycoon has lent Lowe and Reform UK his support before - notably in December, when Nigel Farage and mega-donor Nick Candy met him at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort last December, and then during the resurgence of the grooming gangs outcry at the start of 2025.
His entusiasm for the party has since appeared to cool - but he has sporadically backed its MPs on his social media platform X.
His backing for Lowe's deportation plea comes as the Trump administration dials up its efforts to clamp down on illegal migrants in the US.
On Friday, both the New York Times and Post reported that the Department of Homeland Security has asked American tax authorities to disclose the home addresses of as many as 700,000 undocumented migrants it is seeking to deport.
Elon Musk, Nigel Farage and Nick Candy met at Mar-a-Lago last December
STUART MITCHELL
In Europe, Labour could be on the brink of cutting small boat crossings after persuading France to let its police boats take on people smugglers carrying migrants to the UK in overcrowded vessels.
In a joint meeting with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said he was considering a variety of legal changes to step up the enforcement of small boats.
A Home Office spokesman said yesterday: "We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
"The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice."
But the boats are only part of the picture - 36,816 people arrived in Britain from the vessels across 2024, according to the Home Office - but 108,138 people claimed asylum in the same time period.
