Smugglers’ Rwanda lies push boat migrants to daily record

Migrants are being told by people smugglers that they must reach Britain before the Rwanda policy takes effect, which has contributed to a record 1,295 people crossing the Channel in a single day.

The Ministry of Defence disclosed yesterday that on Monday 27 boats reached the UK carrying an average of almost 50 migrants each. One vessel picked up by Border Force rescuers had 59 people on board.

French officials intercepted fewer than a quarter of all attempted crossings that day, preventing 390 migrants in 13 boats from crossing.

Adverts on social media reveal that people smugglers are targeting potential “customers” by saying the only way to avoid being removed from the UK on a plane to Rwanda is to make the journey before a new prime minister is installed.

A source in UK law enforcement said: “Part of the surge is down to people traffickers telling migrants the law is changing. It’s wrong, of course, because the Rwanda policy will apply to anybody who came across illegally since January.”

Border Force sources blamed the low interception rate on the tendency for French gendarmerie to go on holiday this month, during which historically there has been a high number of crossings.

Other factors contributing to the increase included calmer conditions. Three windy days without any crossings led to a backlog of people waiting to make the voyage.

About four in ten of the migrants who have crossed this month have been Albanian. A Border Force source said they tended to pay more and so were prioritised by smugglers. Many of the adverts telling migrants to cross before the Rwanda policy comes into effect are in Albanian.

Lucy Moreton, an officer at the Immigration Services Union, which represents Border Force staff, said: “There’s been a big push from Albanian organised crime and nearly half are young male Albanians.”

She said there had been an increase in aggression towards Border Force staff, with several officers having been assaulted in the past few days. Morale among staff is said to be at rock bottom as they are having to wear heavy stabproof vests and work longer hours.

Moreton said: “It makes for a stressful day and as you’re still seeing individuals in really desperate circumstances . . . There are not as many, but there are women and children still coming over.”

Conservative MPs have called on the next prime minister to stop all payments to the French to fund increased patrols and detection equipment until they agree to “practical measures” to prevent migrants from crossing. Britain has paid more than £80 million to the French but their interception rate has dipped below 50 per cent of crossings.

Tim Loughton, a senior Conservative MP and member of the home affairs committee, told The Times: “It is clearly a complete waste of money paying yet more taxpayers’ cash to the French. We need to stop that money and have serious discussions about practical measures to stop this and we need to get the Rwanda programme back on track.”

Natalie Elphicke, the Conservative MP for Dover, said: “A key priority for the new prime minister will be to get the French to stop these boats leaving and arrest those responsible.”

Monday’s crossings took the number of crossings this year to 22,367, twice as many as had crossed by this time last year.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: “Our work with the French is vital to preventing the unacceptable rise in dangerous crossings. This co-operation has prevented over 17,000 crossing attempts in 2022. Since its inception in 2020, our joint intelligence cell has dismantled 21 organised crime groups and led to 500 arrests.”

August has always seen a rise in Channel migrant crossings, driven partly by the calmer conditions but also because of fewer patrols (Matt Dathan and Adam Sage write). Monday’s record-breaking 1,295 migrants crossed in 27 boats launched from 13 locations. The French patrols involve 800 officers working shifts, making it impossible, they claim, to cover the coast. About half are reservists, and many take most of August as holiday.

However, the numbers trying to cross are higher than other Augusts — and more than double last August. Evidence suggests people smugglers are falsely claiming that people hoping to reach the UK must make the crossing before the Rwanda policy takes effect. In fact the policy, mired in legal challenges, will apply to those who have arrived since January.

Social media adverts, mostly on TikTok, seem to be targeting Albanians. Some Border Force officials think this is because Albanian organised crime groups in Britain have been targeted by immigration officials and police, leading to criminals recruiting people from their homeland to fill vacancies in gangs.

Despite the ever-increasing numbers crossing the Channel, the Home Office and government remain in a state of limbo while they await the next prime minister’s plans and policies to combat the crisis.