People smugglers use 36FOOT boat to run migrants across the Channel as number to make perilous journey this year tops 5,000 - double the total for the same period in 2020
People smugglers trying to sneak migrants into the UK have started using boats as big as 36 feet long to pack in more people.
The massive dinghies were spotted today in Dover as numbers who have got across the Channel have topped 5,000.
By this time last year there had been just 2,000, a rise that has sparked serious questions on the effectiveness of the UK's borders.
It came just days after up to 60 migrants were picked up in a dinghy before being taken to Dover Marina on HMS Seeker, where they then went to a holding facility.
Immigration officials have already warned Border Force agents are struggling to cope with the extraordinary surge in crossings, and claimed the system 'is at the point of collapse'.
And Kent County Council said last week it had 'reached the limit' for the number of unaccompanied child migrants it can look after.
The huge dinghy could be seen in Dover, Kent, today that had been used by people smugglers
The enormous inflatable vessel was stopped by border force and the inhabitants caught
The size of the boat shows the greed of the criminals operating the smuggling routes
There have been a record-breaking amount of migrants come through already this year
More than 1,000 migrants have crossed the Channel this month, while over 5,000 have made the perilous journey from France this year - more than double the number during the same period in 2020. It is now predicted 10,000 will cross in 2021, a landmark for illicit sea immigration to the UK.
Lucy Moreton of the Immigration Services Union said 'the pressure across the board is intolerable' and warned of 'serious health and safety concerns on behalf of staff connected with the excessive hours this causes'.
Speaking to MailOnline, Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said the Government 'seems incapable of stemming the flow' and said the 'public are in despair as migrant after migrant pushes their way into the UK at will and people-smugglers laugh all the way to the bank'.
Boris Johnson is apparently furious about the growing number of Channel crossings facilitated by people-smugglers, and allegedly blasted Miss Patel for her mismanagement.
Pictured: In total, more than 5,300 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year
Migrants disembarking HMS Seeker in Dover Marina last week as the crisis continues
Up to 60 migrants, most of them young men, were picked up in a dinghy in the Channel
Miss Patel is bringing forward new laws to try to crackdown on the journeys but ministers are apparently frustrated that Border Force officials are failing to enforce the existing rules.
And it also comes as the Home Secretary is working on laws which could see migrants sent to an offshore immigration centre, a report has revealed.
The legislation would allow the country to build a processing centre of this kind for the first time as the total number of migrants arriving in the UK this year has reached 5,300.
Priti Patel is in discussions with Denmark to share an immigration centre in Africa and is also set to unveil plans to crackdown on people smugglers.
According to the Times, the plans will form part of the Nationality and Borders Bill and will see asylum seekers processed outside the UK in a bid to stop migrants making the dangerous journey across the English Channel.
Denmark is said to be considering a site in Rwanda where two Danish ministers visited last month to sign off a memorandum on asylum and migration, according to the newspaper.
A government source told The Times: 'The prime minister and home secretary are determined to look at anything that will make a difference on Channel crossings.'
The Home Office has also studied the Australian system which bans the arrival of migrants travelling by sea and sends them to offshore immigration centres in neighbouring countries such as Papa New Guineau.