Last year, a total of 683 Indians were reported to have landed on British shores via small boats, resulting in a spike in illegal Indian crossings across the English Channel. According to the most recent UK Home Office “Irregular Migration to the UK” statistics for the year ending December 2022, this figure represents a gradual increase from the 67 Indian nationals recorded to have crossed over in small boats in 2021. A total of 64 Indians crossed over in 2020, and none in 2019 and 2018, news agency PTI reported.
The UK has a returns agreement with India under the Migration and Mobility Partnership (MMP), which British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak mentioned in Parliament last week. “Our position is clear: if you arrive here illegally you will not be able to claim asylum here, you will not be able to access the modern slavery system and you will not be able to make spurious human rights claims. That is the right thing to do,” PM Sunak earlier told the Commons during Prime Minister’s Questions.
Enhanced surveillance
This comes shortly after the PM agreed upon an enhanced agreement with neighbouring France to crack down on small boats unlawfully trying to migrate from the French port of Calais to the English port of Dover.
As per the PTI report, the UK will allocate funds on an additional migrant detention centre just next to the French border, alongside additional officers, drones, and surveillance technology, to crack down on criminals who facilitate dangerous small boat journeys. According to Home Office data on irregular migration, over 400 Indian nationals were classified as “inadequately documented air arrivals” into the UK in 2022.
Over 45,000 foreign nationals crossed over in 2022
The majority of “irregular arrivals” from India on small boats were men between the ages of 25 and 40, out of a total of 45,755 in 2022 – largely dominated by Albanian and Afghan nationals, followed by Iranian, Iraqi, and Syrian nationals. Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, and Bangladeshis are among the other South Asian nationalities represented on the list, the PTI report stated.
Traffickers are reported to charge thousands of pounds to transport people illegally on small, often unsafe boats in the hope of claiming asylum in the UK. Several deaths have taken place as a consequence of such journeys over the years, however the number of migrants undertaking these perilous journeys has risen exponentially.