A total of 915 people were spotted on Saturday in 19 small boats, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said, bringing the provisional total for the year to 25,146. There have been 8,747 crossings in August so far, including 3,733 in the past week, the analysis shows. The highest daily total was recorded last Monday, August 22, with 1,295 people crossing on 27 boats. It has been more than four months since Home Secretary Priti Patel revealed plans to send refugees to Rwanda to try to stop people crossing the Channel. Since then, 19,878 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey. On April 14, Patel signed what she described as a “world first” deal with Rwanda, under which the East African nation would accept refugees deemed by the UK to have arrived illegally and therefore inadmissible according to the young immigration rules. However, the first deportation flight, due to take off on June 14, was stalled amid legal challenges. Several asylum seekers, the Civil and Commercial Services union and charities Care4Calais, Detention Action and Asylum Aid are challenging the legality of the Home Office policy, with further court hearings scheduled for September and October. The number of people arriving in the UK in small boats from France after navigating busy shipping lanes has risen steadily in recent years. In 2018, 299 were detected, followed by 1,843 in 2019, 8,466 in 2020 and 28,526 last year, according to official figures. Despite growing numbers, small boat arrivals are a fraction of the number of people heading to mainland Europe. Figures from the UN refugee agency show that at least 120,441 people reached Europe via the Mediterranean by land and sea last year.
