#channel-crossings — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #channel-crossings, aggregated by home.social.
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Asylum Seekers: UK Policy Changes and Impact in 2026
Some positive news on refugees and asylum seekers
January 2026
With the events in Venezuela, threats to occupy Greenland and continuing conflict in Ukraine, news about small boat arrivals and immigrants generally has dropped out of the news recently. Problems remain however.
Firstly, the final figure for irregular arrivals in the UK by small boats in 2025 was 41,000, the second-highest annual total ever. The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act is now in force, with new measures allowing Border Force to seize phones and SIM cards from irregular arrivals, ostensibly to help in tracking down smugglers. Seizures of cash and assets of convicted smugglers are up 33% in year to September, compared to the previous year.
More positively, 5 local councils in England and Wales have declared an interest in a pilot scheme to use new build and refurbished council homes for asylum seekers as a way of removing them from hotels. The homes would be built with government money, leased to the Home Office, and then added to LA stock. The views of other prospective council home tenants have not yet been noted.
In the EU, heads of state met on 8 January to discuss its Common European System for Returns, instituted last March. The Commission claims that only 20% of those designated for deportation actually are removed. The effectiveness of the new system is not yet clear. The UK government claims to have removed 50,000 claimants since it came into office in July 2024.
On the global level, Sherif A Wahab has calculated that the numbers of Displaced Persons is now double what it was in 2012; one-third of them are refugees (i.e. outside their country). Likewise the number of refugees who have been in exile for more than 5 years has doubled over the last decade; reasons for this include conflicts lasting longer; lack of strategy at local and national levels; refusals of permanent residency and other repressive policies. Of the world’s 32 million refugees only 204,000 returned home or settled permanently in 2022 (latest figures).
‘failure of imagination and ambition’
The head of the UNHCR, Filippo Grandi – on retiring last month – expressed his views on what he saw as a failure of imagination and ambition; “the international community should invest in asylum systems to make them faster, more efficient and better able to return people who do not need the help” In his view, governmental responsibility does not impinge on sovereignty, but is an extension of it.
The link below to an article from The Guardian looks at the working of community sponsorship schemes; it implies that the government is still committed to legal routes to resettlement. The Home Secretary said last November that she hoped to develop this model further.
“With control [over Britain’s borders] restored, we will open up new, capped routes for refugees for whom this country will be the first, safe haven they encounter. We will make community sponsorship the norm, so we know that the pace and scale of change does not exceed what a local area is willing to accept,” she said.
On the campaigning front, Safe Passage International have produced for the new year a Resolutions Generator, which, when pressed, will offer a small way in which one can help or understand better.
And here’s a petition against deportations from WeMoveEurope:
Say No to Mass Deportations in Europe | WeMove Europe
AH
Previous posts:
- Asylum Seekers: UK Policy Changes and Impact in 2026
- Latest death penalty report
- Britain’s role in the destruction of Gaza
- Israel revokes licences for aid organisations
- Surge in executions in Saudi
Talk by Peter Oborne in Salisbury on 21st about his new book ‘Complicit’
#asylum #BorderForce #channelCrossings #HomeOffice #refugees
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The UK government recently announced a returns agreement to discourage people from making the crossing | Sophie Watt
#channelcrossings
https://sussexbylines.co.uk/politics/channel-crossings-life-in-microcamps-on-the-french-border-and-how-they-are-changing-crossing-attempts/?fsp_sid=659 -
UK Refugee Crisis: Strategies to Address Small Boat Arrivals
Refugees and boat crossings still making political waves
July 2025
With the state visit of President Macron this week, the small boats are back in the headlines. As Macron and Starmer try to thrash out a deal to reduce the numbers arriving in the UK, the UK has been pressuring the French police to use new tactics against the irregular immigrants, allowing them to stop boats from up to 300 meters from the shoreline rather than only dealing with them on land. Presently they can only intervene if there is danger to life. The police are, in any event accused of puncturing inflatable boats as well as more heinously using tear gas and pepper spray on children.
An agreement between the UK and France on a “one in one out” basis, so that any arrival can be sent
back to France if replaced by a candidate deemed more worthy by dint of family connection, has been mooted, but the press conference will be on Thursday afternoon, so we will not know just yet. At all events, other EU nations are complaining about a possible deal which will make it more likely that arrivals in Europe will end up on their shores.
‘we have to make migration boring again’
Meanwhile, Amy Pope, the CEO of the (UN’s) International Organisation for Migration, has suggested any proposed changes will be unlikely to work, bearing in mind the level of commitment the migrants have already put in before reaching the English Channel. She is also in favour of de-politicising the debate. Her comment “We have to make migration boring again” is clearly the most valuable contribution from anyone so far.
Arrivals
As noted last month, the number of arrivals in the UK on small boats continues to break records (20,000 by the end of June). This has been put down to good weather, smugglers’ new techniques and increasing conflicts around the world (the largest number of hopeful asylum seekers in Calais are from Sudan).
The Government is hoping to save up to £1 billion by speeding up backlog processing. However, the backlog is now 90,000 rather than 50,000 in 2024. In 2024, there were84,000 asylum claims – In the EU as a whole there were nearly a million – 997,000.
With much discussion on what legal routes immigrants can take, here is a summary of the current situation in the UK: there are presently 7 options.
- UNHCR can select people it thinks appropriate to send (the places cannot be applied for, and amount to only 1% of all refugees).
- UK Resettlement Scheme. The status of this is unclear; it includes community sponsorship and accounts for about 700 arrivals last year.
- Mandate Scheme. This is for people with relatives in the UK. 23 cases were reported in 2024.
- Family Reunions. Applies after refugee status has been agreed by the UK.
Mostly Syrians , Iranians and Eritreans. 5000 in quarter 1 2025.
- Hong Kong. Numbers low now as most cases already settled.
- Afghanistan. ACRS and ARAOP have now been closed, with virtually no explanation. “Further measures…[will be] announced later this year.” More Afghans have been arriving by boats than under these arrangements anyway.
- Ukraine. Numbers also down now to about 4000 a month. Only 1698 asylum claims since 2022.
The Refugee Council have a new report New Roots, New Futures, arguing for a national integration strategy for refugees in the UK. They are particularly exercised by the need for new arrivals to have access to help in obtaining work and housing once they have been given right to remain.
The Green Party have put forward a plan for the Home Office to be split, with various options for the immigration departments.
By way of context, it should be noted that 73% of the world’s refugees are in Low/Middle Income countries, 67% of them are in countries neighbouring the one they are fleeing. Per head of population the countries with the highest number of refugees are Lebanon (1 in 8 of the population), Aruba and Chad.
The European Convention on Human Rights has become an issue again with questionable claims being made about possible unfair exploitation of loopholes. It should be stated that the Convention does not affect individual countries’ immigration policy, and that it is rare for claimants to a right of “family life” and such to win their case. The ECHR has ruled against the UK twice in the last two years, in neither case about immigration/deportation issues. They have generally prevented removals from the UK about once every 4.5 years since 1980. Leaving the Convention over this issue would seem rather unnecessary.
Andrew Hemming
Recent posts:
- Gaza gets ever worse
- Group minutes and newsletter
- Human rights in the UK
- Death penalty report
- UK Refugee Crisis: Strategies to Address Small Boat Arrivals
#asylum #channelCrossings #France #immigration #RefugeeCouncil #refugees
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Refugee and immigration report
Refugees and the boat crossings still making political waves
June 2025
This month we are back to the small boats. So far in 2025 some 15,000 arrivals have been recorded (1,100 on one day). The Home Office say this is due to better weather and more people crammed in to boats. In quarter 1 numbers were up by 20% on last year – mainly from the usual places – Eritrea, Afghanistan, Sudan.
The asylum backlog is down to 78,000, but with a lower grant rate (49% over the last year) the improvement may not be maintained. The number of claimants jailed for “illegal arrival” has doubled in the last year. Between 2022 and 2024, 556 arrivals were prosecuted under the Illegal Migration Act and 455 convicted (half of them were said to be piloting the boats, willingly or otherwise, and were therefore “facilitators”). In the latter half of last year, 53 people were arrested for people smuggling including many who happened to be steering the boats and many of them children.
Plans for removing arrivals to third countries for processing have made little progress ; Albania said no, North Macedonia & Kosovo have not been asked but say they are open to discussion.
3,800 Afghans are currently awaiting homes (who came under the ARS scheme and were left unsupported). Also it has been claimed that an unnamed Special Forces officer blocked the entry of 1585 Afghans (it has been suggested this might be related to potential war crimes revelations).
Mary Bosworth (Oxford Professor of Criminology) has an interesting piece on the outsourced immigration detainee escorting system Mary Bosworth (@mfbosworth.bsky.social) — Bluesky
7000 Syrians are still in limbo awaiting a UK decision on processing their claims after a pause (the new regime is still being monitored, though presumably it will eventually be possible for many to return there).
The US has taken on “refugees” from South Africa, white residents supposedly under threat. So far there have been 50,000 enquiries and 68 actual moves.
The Home Secretary has said she is working on a “fast-tracking” removal system for migrants from “safe” countries; these have not yet been named.
Of the 108,000 claimants for asylum status in the last year 16,000 were from holders of student visas. The government is likely to address this question soon.
Immigrant-focused group British Future have polled the public on attitudes to the word “immigrant”. For 70% of respondents this conjured up people on small boats, while 46% thought of imported workers. Of those who wanted to see a reduction in immigration, 49% prioritised the boats, very few mentioning worker or student arrivals. The research also finds that 59% of the public, and 64% of 2024 Labour voters, agree that migrants living in the UK and paying taxes should be eligible to apply for citizenship after five years or less.
Polling organisation More in Common found that 51% thought a fall in immigration a good thing, 57% opining that the level was still too high.
One of the more interesting ideas for Refugee Week is that of Lancaster, where an exhibition, Escape to Safety, will give visitors an interactive view of the refugee experience. More on that here
Finally, the Government’s Spending Review this week had a couple of points on the immigration/asylum seekers question. Chancellor Rachel Reeves says the new Border Security Command will receive up to £280m more a year by the end of the spending-review period. She also promises that all spending on hotels for asylum seekers waiting for their cases to be heard will stop by the end of this parliament.
Andrew Hemming
- Eightieth vigil
- UK planning closer links to China
- Human rights in the UK
- Refugee and immigration report
- Death penalty report: May June
#Afghans #channelCrossings #HomeOffice #immigration #refugees #Salisbury
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Macron is no Leftie either.
#UKPOL #UKpolitics #France #ChannelCrossings #Rwanda #RishiSunak
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"Let them drown" says a rich man.
"ooo, valid opinions the nation needs to hear" goes the rich man's media
#ChannelCrossings #SmallBoats #UKPOL #Ukpolitcs #reformUk #BenHabib
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There are no routes right now, even though the Government says there are, but nobody believes them any more.
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Wait for the crocodile tears from Westminster.......
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/23/several-feared-dead-attempt-cross-channel
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"Starmer attacked from left and right after setting out plan to stop Channel crossings"
For the benefit of the politically hard-of-thinking, this doesn't necessarily mean that Starmer is doing something right.
#KeirStarmer #ChannelCrossings #SmallBoats #EU #Europol #Brexit
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The Guardian view on lives lost in the Channel: tragedies continue, to the accompaniment of Tory insults
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/14/the-guardian-view-on-lives-lost-in-the-channel-tragedies-continue-to-the-accompaniment-of-tory-insults?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
#ChannelCrossings -
#AsylumSeekers #ChannelCrossings #BibbyStockholm #Brexit #Tories
🚨**Government officials planning for migrant crisis to last for ‘years’!**🚨
Plans have been drawn up to tackle the Asylum crisis for at least another FIVE YEARS, with RAF bases & a prison set to house migrants in the UK.
Ministers said they had planning permission for the Bexhill, Wethersfield & Scapmton sites & aimed to reduce the £6m a day cost of housing 51k migrants in nearly 400 hotels.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/migrant-crisis-years-government-memo-b2392560.html
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#AsylumSeekers #ChannelCrossings #Brexit #Immigration
🚨**An asylum seeker taken off the Bibby Stockholm barge following the discovery of Legionella bacteria says the government is "endangering" migrants and treating them like "less than animals"**🚨
The man said he was moved to a hotel following the evacuation by the Home Office on Friday night.
He's worried about falling ill after consuming the water on board, where he went on to say: "We bathed in it & we drank it."
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'It was promoted as #RishiSunak’s “#SmallBoatsWeek” – seven days when the government would hail progress on tacking #ChannelCrossings. Yet each day would bring another painful reminder that its asylum policy is in a mess with the grimmest news – fresh deaths as another boat has capsized – capping a sobering week.' https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/13/how-the-small-boats-week-unravelled #ToryPoliciesInAction
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#Immigration #AsylumSeekers #BibbyStockholm #ChannelCrossings #Racism #Rwanda #Brexit #Braverman #Sunak #ToryCorruption #GTTO
To further illustrate Tory immigration policy, Far right parties like the BNP, NF, EDL Britain First etc, urged their racist Klansfolk to vote CONservative in 2019! 😳
The #Tories are now a legitimate voting option for Britain's #FarRight, which tells you all you need to know about the depths today's #CONservatives have sunken to! 🤷🏾♂️
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#AsylumSeekers #ChannelCrossings #Immigration #Brexit
🚨**BREAKING NEWS**🚨
"Several people have died & dozens have been rescued after an Asylum boat crossing the Channel capsized!"
At least 50 people have been rescued, French authorities said.
A search & rescue operation involving 5 French ships, 2 British ships and a helicopter is under way following the incident off Cap Gris Nez in Northern France.
All because the #TORIES REFUSE to setup safe routes to the UK! 😥 🙏🏾
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#Tories #Immigration #AsylumSeekers #ChannelCrossings
🚨**BREAKING NEWS**🚨
"MPs want Border Force staff on jet-skis deployed in the Channel to push migrant boats back to France as more than 100k people make journey in 5 years!"
Several migrants were rescued from the English Channel yesterday. The Home Office confirmed 17 individuals were rescued from the water who had gone overboard and said they were all recovered safely.
Jet skis? 🤔
What could possibly go wrong! 🙄
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Channel crossings hit new daily high for 2023 as 755 people make crossing | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/migrants-crossing-english-channel-today-b2391465.html
#ChannelCrossings -
Government Warned Bibby Stockholm Tackles "Symptoms" Not "Causes" Of Channel Crossings
https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/bibby-stockholm-tackles-symptoms-causes-small-boats-crisis
#BibbyStockholm
#ChannelCrossings -
#Immigration #ChannelCrossings #Refugees #RefugeeBarge #BibbyStockholm
"Liverpool & Edinburgh have refused two refugee cruise ships permission to dock! They've been sent back empty to their owners at a HUGE cost to the UK."
Is there no limit the Tories will go to, to demonise refugees? Instead of constantly seeking attention grabbing headlines, when will they address the source of the problem & tackle why refugees are fleeing to Europe from former European colonies? 🤔
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CW: UK Pol Tory Policies in Action
#Sunak: I can’t be sure #mallBoats will be stopped before election
#PM calls fulfilling #ChannelCrossings pledge ‘complicated’ in wide-ranging ConservativeHome interview
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/13/rishi-sunak-small-boats-channel-crossings-pledge-conservativehome-interview
#ToryBacksliding #ToryIncompetence #ToryPoliciesInAction -
#ChannelCrossings: Conservatives Whipping Up Hatred with Unworkable #Asylum Plans
Lauren Crosby Medlicott reports on Rishi Sunak’s new law banning people entering the UK ‘illegally’ from claiming asylum or re-entering in the future
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CW: UK Pol Tory Incompetence
Forty-three times the #Conservatives tried (and failed) to tackle #ChannelCrossings -
#ToryIncompetence
#Asylum #ToryPoliciesInAction
#Inhumanity
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/07/conservatives-channel-crossings-small-boats-tories-rwanda-deportation -
CW: UK Pol Tory Incompetence Asylum
#RishiSunak’s plan for small boats ‘will lock up people fleeing #war’ -
Prime minister’s proposed legislation aimed at stopping #ChannelCrossings branded ‘a joke’ by a former minister
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/05/rishi-sunaks-plan-for-small-boats-will-lock-up-people-fleeing-war
#ToryIncompetence #Asylum -
@thepoliticalcat To be clear the bill seeks to create an offence of: "posting videos of people crossing the channel which show that activity in a positive light".
Could your picture reasonably be said to showing the asylum-seekers in a "positive light"? I doubt it.
The desire is to create a chilling effect of suppressing news of the boat crossings rather than to disrupt the crossings themselves.