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Record 40,000 migrants cross English Channel so far this year

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The latest plan, announced under Boris Johnson, plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda but this plan has stalled…reports Asian Lite News

The number of migrants making the perilous crossing of the English Channel in makeshift boats to reach the United Kingdom has hit a new record high mark on Sunday — more than 40,000 — according to the British Ministry of Defense.

Government figures show that 972 people crossed the English Channel in 22 small boats on Saturday, bringing the total since the start of the year to 40,885.

Never have so many migrants — especially Albanians, Iranians and Afghans — made the dangerous crossing. During the whole of last year, 28,526 crossings were recorded, which was already a record then.

These rising figures are putting pressure on the government as the ruling Conservative Party have made tackling immigration a top priority since Brexit, and the asylum system is more overwhelmed than ever.

Successive Conservative governments have considered a range of options: including abandoning some illegal or unworkable ideas like pushing boats out of British waters with artificial waves, locking migrants on ocean liners offshore or sending them to remote islands.

The latest plan, announced under Boris Johnson, plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda but this plan has stalled.

The subject is a point of tension with Paris even if the two countries announced Friday in a joint press release “progress” to find a new agreement on the question.

The United Kingdom would be ready to pay an additional €91 million euros to France for police reinforcements on French beaches, while British agents would have access to French control centres.

In the UK, recent revelations about overcrowded reception centers have caused controversy in a country where the population remains mainly in favor of welcoming migrants.

Interior Minister Suella Braverman, far to the right, also shocked by calling the influx of migrants arriving in the United Kingdom an “invasion”, remarks deemed “horrible” by the United Nations.

ALSO READ-696 migrants cross English Channel in single-day record high

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