After 106 migrants landed at Dover on Tuesday, the first small boats to cross the English Channel in more than a fortnight.
Since January 2, bad weather has stopped any crossings.
Yesterday, after a brief weather break, criminal gangs drove three small boats away from French beaches. Two were captured by Border Force boats after entering UK seas.
Off the coast of France, close to Calais, a third boat had problems.
45 individuals had to be rescued from the tiny inflatable by French coastguard and border police boats, and they were then brought back to Calais for medical checkup.
The UK government was under pressure due to its failure to stop the flow of tiny boats, but some of that pressure has been eased by the choppy weather in the English Channel.
In many small boats, about 46,000 individuals crossed the English Channel last year. Albanians made about a third of those who travelled over.
44 people were rescued from an inflatable off the coast of Kent in the tiny boat that made the crossing before yesterday’s boats.
The situation with tiny boats, according to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, is one of his administration’s main objectives.
On Monday, authorisation was given for unions, human rights organisations, and some Channel migrants to challenge a High Court ruling from late last year that found the government’s proposal to transfer certain asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing was legal.
In order to better effectively address the Channel migrant issue, the Home Office has also established a new Small Boats Command, bringing together Border Force, the Military, and the National Crime Agency.
