The number of migrants making the perilous crossing of the English Channel in makeshift boats to reach the United Kingdom passed the 40,000 mark on Sunday, a record, said the British Ministry of Defense.
According to government figures, 972 people crossed the English Channel in 22 small craft 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.
Over the whole of 2021, 28,526 crossings had been recorded.
It was already a record.
These rising figures are putting pressure on the government as the Tories have made tackling immigration a top priority since Brexit and the asylum system is more overwhelmed than ever.
Successive Tory governments have considered everything, 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.
Point of tension with Paris
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 80 million pounds (91 million euros) to France for police reinforcements on French beaches, while British agents would have access to French control centres.
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In the United Kingdom, 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 UN.