More than 40,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to Britain so far this year, in a new record, the UK government said on Sunday as it targets a new deal with France to fight people smuggling.
The provisional total for this year stood at 40,885, most of them Albanians, Iranians and Afghans — well in excess of last year’s 28,561, the Ministry of Defence said. On Saturday, some 972 people were detected making the perilous crossing in 22 boats, it said.
The figures have been rising for years. Some 299 were detected making the crossing in 2018; 1,843 in 2019; and 8,466 in 2020, according to the UK.
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