An increasing number of refugees and migrants have been entering the United Kingdom illegally by crossing the English Channel in the last decades. The Strait of Dover section between Dover in England and Calais in France represents the shortest sea crossing, and is a long-established shipping route. As of 18 August , the Home Office has detected , migrants who have crossed the English Channel in small boats since Seaborne crossings aboard small boats by would-be refugees and migrants were rare before , however some crossings were recorded in the summer of during the European migrant crisis.
If migrants who prove themselves to be from several countries arrive in England through illegal means, upon arrival the UK Government is unlikely to reject their claims to asylum. In at least 1, migrants arrived from France via small boats; the Home Office reported that only around were returned to other European countries. Since November , the number of migrants crossing has grown.
The total number of migrants arriving by this route during was The number of crossings rose further to 45, in before declining to 29, in Until the dispersal of the Calais Jungle in , which contained an estimated 3, would-be immigrants to the UK, the majority of asylum seekers entering the country via the English Channel did so through the Channel Tunnel, mostly by hiding in vehicles.
With the increase in numbers crossing the channel in , politicians attached the label "crisis" to the sudden increase in seaborne crossings. The first migrants to have been recorded landing in the UK by small boat as recorded by the government was on 31 January when seven people crossed in a single boat.
Following the surge in migrant crossing incidents in November and December, on 28 December the UK Home secretary declared a major incident regarding refugees attempting to cross the channel. During the course of , almost 1, had made the crossing by the end of the year. In April , boat arrivals for that month was over β the highest monthly total ever recorded.
