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People smugglers offer migrants passage A “package deal” channel including travel, accommodation and work to boost business has emerged.
As Labor and Conservatives trade blows over migrationwith figures confirming that more than 150,000 people have crossed it Channel in small boats for the past seven years, Albanian gangs have been inviting migrants hoping to take advantage of “messy and busy” airports over Christmas to enter the UK with stolen passports.
The TikTok ads reportedly feature TV-style marketing for packages costing as little as £2,500, payable on arrival in Doverwhich involved “specialist people” waiting to pick up migrants, take them to rental properties and find them black market jobs that pay in cash.
The messages he saw The Times a smuggler was shown telling a would-be migrant that they could fly him and his fiancee to the UK, find a house to rent for £1,000 a month in London and a “simple job”, all for £12,000. The message included photos of the house in the style of an online real estate agent.
It came as 407 people traveled in 10 boats on Boxing Day, according to Home Office figures released on Friday, while photographs suggest more people made the crossing on December 27.
Combined with 451 people crossing the Channel at Christmas, this brought the total as of 1 January 2018 to 150,243 – equivalent to the population of Cambridge.
A Home Office source tried to blame the previous government for the figures, saying: “The Tories have left a terrible legacy of broken border security.
“We are repairing the foundations with a new Border Security Command, 100 new specialist investigators and new agreements with Europe and further to break the business models of the evil criminal gangs who make millions from small shipping crossings.
“We are increasing the removal of those who have no right to be here and cracking down on illegal work.”
But shadow home secretary Chris Philp said it was “an insult that Labor allowed 858 illegal immigrants into the country on Christmas Day and Boxing Day”.
Mr Philp added: “By ending deterrence in Rwanda before it started, Labor has failed us. We’ve seen deterrence work in Australia.”
the prime minister Sir Keir Starmer he has put international cooperation with law enforcement agencies in Europe at the heart of his bid to reduce arrivals, vowing to “crush the gangs” smuggling people across the Channel during this year’s election.
More than 22,324 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel since Sir Keir entered No 10 when Labor won the election in July, up 24% on the same period in 2023 but down 32% on to the record year 2022.
So far this year, 35,898 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel, provisional Home Office figures show.
This is 22% more than this time last year, but 22% less than in 2022.
The days when the wind and wave level in the English Channel are most favorable for crossings are called “red days”, and the period earlier in autumn saw the highest concentration of red days in the month, 26 out of 31 days. between October 11 and November 10.
In the second half of 2024, there have also already been more red days but in the same period in 2023.
Meanwhile, the National Crime Agency said it has about 70 active investigations into organized immigration crime or human trafficking.
Around 50 people have died trying to cross the English Channel this year, according to incidents recorded by the French coastguard, in what is considered the deadliest year since the crisis began.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has also reported several more migrant deaths believed to be linked to attempted crossings so far in 2024.
The number of migrants crossing the English Channel has been steadily increasing since 299 people were detected in 2018.
In December of that year, then Home Secretary Sajid Javid cut short the Christmas break to return to the UK and take charge of the developing crisis.
He declared a “major incident” after 40 migrants left on Christmas Day and another 12 days later.
In 2019, 1,843 crossings were recorded, and in 2020, 8,466, according to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
A record 45,774 people traveled in 2022 compared to 28,526 recorded for all of 2021.
In 2023, 29,437 people arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel.
A Home Office spokesman said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which put lives at risk and undermine our border security.
“People-trafficking gangs don’t care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to break their business models and bring them to justice.”