Foreign

ALMOST 700 migrants crossed the English Channel to reach British shores in a single day, a record for the year so far.

The country’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Tuesday that Some 696 made the journey in 14 boats on Monday,

This is the highest number on a single day so far this year, and only the second time in 2022 the daily figure topped 600.

The previous highest number was 651 recorded on April 13.

The latest crossings saw large groups of people, including children, brought ashore in Ramsgate before leaving the Kent Port on double-decker buses.

The data suggests there was an average of about 50 on each boat that day.

More than 17,000 people have arrived in the UK after navigating busy shipping lanes from France in small boats so far in 2022, according to government figures.

Some 3,683 migrants made the crossing on 90 boats in July, the highest monthly total this year, the figures show.

The journeys took place on 20 out of 31 days.

It is more than three months since British Home Secretary Priti Patel unveiled plans to send migrants to Rwanda to try to deter people from crossing the Channel.

Since then, 11, 827 have arrived in the UK after making the journey.

On April 14, Patel signed what she described as a “world-first” agreement with Rwanda under which the east African nation will receive migrants deemed by the UK to have arrived “illegally” and are therefore inadmissible under new immigration rules.

But the first deportation flight, due to take off on June 14, was grounded amid legal challenges.

Several asylum seekers, the Public and Commercial Services Union and charities Care4Calais, Detention Action and Asylum Aid are challenging the legality of the Home Office policy.

The next court hearings on that will be in September and October. (dpa/NAN)

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Tags: Priti Patel