The number of migrants who crossed the English Channel, since January, to reach the United Kingdom from France, has already exceeded 18,000 people, the British Government announced this Sunday.
So far, 18,108 migrants have made the journey to the county of Kent, in southeastern England, but more people are expected to try to cross the waters of the Channel in the coming days due to good weather, the Ministry of Defense of England reported. . the UK said.
The ministry recalled that the threshold of 18,000 was exceeded on Saturday, after 337 people arrived on English shores in small boats.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the migrants who crossed the canal on Saturday did so in 10 boats, although the number of people who entered the country that day is well below the daily record recorded this year.
Five days ago, 696 people tried to enter the UK in one day, using only small boats to cross the English Channel.
Once in the English port of Dover, the British authorities transfer the migrants to special centers.
To deal with this crisis, the British government has launched a program to bring asylum seekers to Rwanda, where their applications must be processed, but the plan has been heavily criticized by opposition parties and humanitarian organisations.
This agreement, for which London had to pay 120 million pounds (140 million euros) in advance to Kigali, is now suspended due to the demands in the British courts and the elections of the Conservative Party to choose the replacement of Boris Johnson, who resigned on July 7. .
In the same period last year, even in a pandemic situation, the total registered did not reach 8 thousand people.
Source: Observadora
