Dozens of migrants have arrived in Dover today after being rescued by Border Force officials from the Channel.
Pictures showed officials escorting 75 asylum seekers to Dover docks, having helped them ashore as they tried to reach the UK.
The migrants were picked up by the Border Force ‘Defender’ cutter before disembarking at the Kent port.
It comes as more than 3,000 small boat migrants have arrived since Labour came to power and scrapped the Rwanda deportation scheme.
Figures on Friday showed that 3,329 have crossed the Channel since July 5, the day Sir Keir Starmer arrived in No 10 after winning the election the day before.
Dozens of migrants have arrived in Dover after being rescued by Border Force officials today
A total of 75 migrants were escorted to the Port of Dover after making the perilous crossing to reach the UK
Border Force officials used the ‘Defender’ cutter to bring asylum seekers ashore
Over 17,000 have made the perilous journey so far in 2024, a record high for the first seven months of any year.
This is 15 per cent more than the 14,732 which arrived between January and July in 2023.
After winning his landslide victory in July, one of Sir Keir’s first acts as Prime Minister was to cancel the previous government’s flagship Rwanda policy.
Tories argued the scheme was necessary for acting as a deterrent to would-be crossers as the threat of being deported to the African nation would make them think twice about making the journey.
But Sir Keir’s government will instead recruit a 1,000-strong immigration task force as part of a new Border Security Command in a bid to fast-track removals and better tackle people smuggling gangs upstream.
Former PM Rishi Sunak had claimed during the election campaign that migrants were ‘queueing up’ in Calais waiting for a Labour government to scrap the Rwanda scheme.
Pictured: Migrants are rescued from the middle of the English Channel by Border Force officials
A migrant is escorted from off a boat at Dover Docks on Sunday. Over 17,000 have made the journey so far this year alone, a record number
A total of 1,071 migrants arrived in the week to Thursday alone, with the fine weather also having an impact.
Last Sunday one migrant died and another 34 were rescued by French coastguards after a ‘heavily loaded’ boat got into difficulty.
Meanwhile on the same day near Dunkirk, France, a so-called ‘taxi boat’ was seen motoring out of the harbour at Gravelines.
One of the occupants of the half-full dinghy was heard shouting to onlookers: ‘This is for Rishi Sunak’ – perhaps in reference to the former prime minister’s now junked policy.
