Over 2,000 Illegal Immigrants Crossed Channel in November: Home Office

The total number of illegal immigrants intercepted crossing the English Channel in the first 10 days of November amounted to 2,239, the Home Office has confirmed.
Nine boats carrying 572 people were intercepted on Nov. 9 as they attempted to cross the Channel, and a further four boats, with 209 people on board, were recorded on Nov. 10.
The total number of immigrants to arrive so far this year totals 32,900, an increase from 26,699 at the same time last year and a drop from 39,929 in 2022.
The Home Office has vowed to tackle the illegal immigration crisis that has so far seen a total of 147,222 immigrants arrive in Britain by boat across the Channel since 2018, when records began.
“We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security,” a Home Office spokesperson said in a statement last month.
“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.”
It comes as the government intensified its efforts to boost UK border security and tackle people-smuggling gangs.
The investment will support a new Organised Immigration Crime Intelligence Unit and hundreds of new investigators and intelligence officers.
New agreements with Serbia, North Macedonia, and Kosovo, signed during the visit, aim to support plans to clamp down on organised immigration crime.
The deals, building on the existing partnership between the UK and Albania, will increase intelligence sharing to intercept the gangs as they transport vulnerable people through the Western Balkans.
Last year, almost 100,000 migrants were transited through the region, making it a key route used by migrants arriving in the EU or UK illegally.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement that international cooperation will leave criminals with “nowhere to hide.”
“Our work with our partners in the Western Balkans is absolutely key to dismantling the criminal networks that orchestrate the exploitation of vulnerable people for financial gain,” Cooper said.
“Working more closely with Serbia, North Macedonia and Kosovo, we will share information and intelligence, and work across borders to map out what is happening and where, to break the business models of these unscrupulous gangs at source.”