Enlarge image
A group of suspected migrants cross the English Channel in a small boat towards Dover (archive image from August 2020)
Photo: Gareth Fuller / dpa
The number of asylum seekers en route to Great Britain continues to grow.
More than ever before in one day illegally crossed the English Channel from France to Great Britain.
British media reported that around 1,000 people crossed from the mainland on Thursday.
23,000 migrants reached the country in this way - already more than twice as many as in 2020 as a whole.
This also increases the pressure on British Home Secretary Priti Patel.
The conservative politician announced several times that she would stop illegal migration.
The BBC quoted a government source accusing France of losing control of the situation on its coast.
Numerous people are waiting there for an opportunity to go to Great Britain.
London supports the French controls with the equivalent of around 63 million pounds.
The British government introduced a rigid immigration system after Brexit.
Home Secretary Patel wants to make it more difficult for migrants to apply for asylum upon arrival in the UK.
Preventing free movement is a Brexit promise made by Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives.
Fear of the "invasion"
In October France proposed a migration agreement between the EU and the UK.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the agreement was necessary because the issue was not dealt with in the Brexit agreement.
The increasing number of refugees crossing the English Channel in small boats has led to growing tensions between London and Paris after Britain left the EU at the beginning of the year.
In England, conservative hardliners had stoked fears of an "invasion".
The British Home Secretary Patel repeatedly played through sometimes martial and questionable methods to prevent people from crossing.
mrc / dpa