Channel Crossings Timeline

Scroll down to explore three decades of significant political, policy, and material events relevant to the unfolding situation in the English Channel:

1991 Sangatte Protocol signed by UK and France agreeing to introduce UK border controls in France and French controls in the UK when the Channel Tunnel opens. It comes into force in 1993.

1994 Channel Tunnel opens, connecting the European mainland and Britain and the for the first time since the close of the Paleolithic Ice Age (~11,700y/o). It cuts travel time between France and England to just 35 minutes.

1995 Schengen Area created. People can travel passport free within the EU. The UK opts out

1998 Increasing number of homeless migrants living in the Calais area hoping to cross to the UK

Jan 1999 An Iraqi man was found crushed to death in Dover, under a lorry under which he was hiding.

1999 Sangatte refugee centre created by the French Red Cross for migrants attempting to travel to UK. Capacity 600

April 6th 2000 A woman dies after falling under the wheels of a lorry in Hastings (UK) that had crossed the Channel. Four other people hidden in the truck are arrested.

June 2000 During a routine border inspection, the bodies of 58 people from China were discovered in a lorry in Dover. The incident is one of the largest mass killings in British criminal history, the second being the Essex lorry deaths in Oct 2019.

2001 Sangatte refugee centre (capacity 600) now houses 1000 – 1600 people on any given day and conditions are squalid

Apr 7th 2001 A man dies of electrocution at the Channel Tunnel terminal in Coquelles, near Calais.

Aug 20th 2001 A Kosovan refugee drowns after jumping off a ferry in an attempt to swim to Britain

Aug 31st 2001 44 asylum seekers managed to walk seven miles through the Channel tunnel towards the UK before being detected by heat sensors and cameras.

Sep 2001 The UK government starts to impose a civil penalty of £2,000 per head on Eurotunnel each time asylum seekers make it through the Channel tunnel into the UK. Ferry companies, Airlines, ferry companies, lorry and coach drivers already face the same fine – known as “carrier sanctions”.

Nov 2001 Riot between Kurdish and Afghan residents at the overcrowded Sangatte refugee centre. A 25-year-old Kurdish refugee dies.

Dec 2001 A large group of refugees storm the Eurotunnel on Christmas Day, allowing more than 500 refugees into the tunnel.

2001 Eurotunnel (Channel tunnel operator) spends £3m enhancing security around its terminal to reduce irregular crossings and launches legal proceedings for the closure of the Sangatte refugee camp

2002 Second riot at the overcrowded Sangatte refugee centre

2002 French Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy orders the closure of Sangatte centre. The Sangatte closure agreement is signed by UK Home Secretary David Blunkett and the UK agrees to take around 1,000 Iraqi Kurds and 200 Afghans, while France takes responsibility for the remaining 300 Sangatte centre residents

March 28th 2003 – Foreshadowing the ‘Rwanda Plan’ two decades later, Tony Blair presents draft proposals to EU counterparts to deport asylum seekers for overseas ‘processing’ using “regional protection zones.” Refugee Council express serious concerns: “These proposals will leave the poorest countries of the world carrying an ever-growing proportion of the world’s refugees”

2003 Treaty of Le Touquet. Reciprocal border controls of French and UK officials in each other’s countries brought in. Effectively moves the UK border to France. 

2004 Belgium, France, and the UK sign an agreement, allowing Belgian officers to carry out pre-embarkation immigration controls in London, and British officials to carry out pre-embarkation immigration controls in Brussels.

2008 The organisation L’Auberge des Migrants begin working alongside displaced people in Calais

2009 An informal camp in Calais with 1000 inhabitants is bulldozed and 190 people are arrested

Jul 2009 UNHCR establishes a presence in Calais, providing legal aid and counselling

2012 UNHCR leaves Calais. Responsibility for legal advice passed to French NGO France Terre d’Asile

2014 At least fifteen people die living informally in Calais in 2014, according to the UNHCR, who condemn the situation in the town as “shameful”

Sep 13th 2014 Mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, threatens to block the port unless Britain “helps to deal” with the situation. The British Home Affairs Committee takes evidence from the Mayor of Calais, who tells the committee that part of the problem is the failure of the British government to reduce ‘pull factors’.

2014 Calais Migrant Solidarity publish a report on the human rights situation in Calais, detailing violation of several fundamental rights including access to food, clean drinking water and shelter, structural and physical violence

2014 The mayor of Calais and the French Interior Minister agree on opening a day centre in Calais for displaced people, and a night shelter specifically for women and children.

2014 UK commits £12 million over three years in a Joint Ministerial Declaration for border security in Northern France

2015 UK Border Force’s ‘Business Plan 2015 – 2018’ states that it aims to be ‘a fully intelligence-led organisation that targets its activities to greatest benefit’. As part of becoming ‘intelligence-led’, Border Force has introduced a ‘Control Strategy’, updated annually, which assesses and rates the risks at the border and to the UK

Jan 2015 French government sets up an official centre at ’Jules Ferry’, a former children’s holiday camp to be run by an NGO. The ambition is to offer accommodation, food, water and hygiene for women and children, 52 women and children move in within 3 months.

Mar 2015 Around 1,200 people are evicted from squats and camps around Calais, and moved to the site by the Jules Ferry centre.

Sep 2015 Final eviction of small squats and encampments in the Calais area, sending more people to the Jungle camp.

2015 Informal camp in Calais often referred to as ‘The Jungle‘ (next to Jules Ferry site) fully established with makeshift schools, shelters, and a variety of organisations offering aid. Houses 10,000 at its peak.

2015 Informal camp in Dunkirk emerges

2015 UK commits £10 million over three years in a Joint Ministerial Declaration for border security in Northern France

2015 Joint UK-French information and coordination centre set up in Calais. Two British liaison magistrates seconded to France, one of whom is specialised in combating immigration criminal networks in Calais.

July 28th 2015 A 23-year-old Sudanese national—Saleh Al Fadhel— is crushed to death by a lorry as it leaves the Euroshuttle

July 30th 2015 In a TV interview, UK Prime Minister David Cameron describes refugees as “a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean, seeking a better life, wanting to come to Britain because Britain has got jobs“.

Sep 15th 2015 A 22-year-old man from Morocco drowns in the port of Calais

Sep 17th 2015 A Syrian refugee died after being electrocuted at the entrance to the Eurotunnel in Calais. He is the 10th person killed in or near the tunnel while trying to reach Britain since late June.

2015 French authorities introduce shipping containers on the Jungle informal camp site to house 1500 people

Oct 2015 Researchers publish the first Environmental Health report of the Calais Jungle camp, demonstrating that it fails to meet basic United Nations health standards for refugee camps. They later find the camp is located within a Seveso Zone of ‘moderate toxic risk’ due to its proximity to two chemical factories.

Nov 2015 Pieces of toxic white asbestos (Chrysotile) —a known human carcinogen— are found scattered throughout the Jungle camp, which is on the location of a former waste dumping ground.

2016 The UK National Crime Agency’s ‘National Strategic Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime 2016’ report states that while no data is available most clandestine entry constitutes ‘individuals travelling alone or in groups conceal themselves inside unaccompanied or accompanied freight, or sometimes underneath vehicles, in an attempt to pass through the immigration and customs controls undetected. …some make use of tourist traffic, concealing themselves in ‘cars (including car boots), vans, coaches and caravans/mobile homes’.

Nov 2015 The organisation Care4Calais begin working with displaced people in Calais

Jan 3rd 2016 A 15-year-old boy named Masud Naveed, from Afghanistan, dies from suffocation in the back of a lorry as he travelled in to join his family in Britain.

17th Feb 2016 The body of an Afghan man is recovered from the water in the port of Calais.

Feb 2016 French authorities bulldoze the southern section of the Jungle camp, reducing its size by half, but increasing overcrowding

March 2016 UK-France summit Annex on migration states that the UK has contributed £63m towards securing the Port of Calais and the Eurotunnel in the last year, including extra fencing and infrastructure, security guards, search dogs and detection technology. French authorities have deployed more than 1300 police officers to prevent crossings

Mar 2016 UK Border Force launches Single Intelligence Platform (SIP) to make it easier to share data across ports and with the Home Office, and for staff to provide feedback in areas such as the results from intelligence alerts they have been required to investigate

April 2016 UK passes the Dubs amendment to the Immigration Act, requiring the government to relocate to the UK refugee children reach Europe unaccompanied. Though his proposed figure of 3,000 was not included in the law, many MPs and peers believed the government had committed to accepting a number of children in that region. Only 350 are brought to the UK before it is scrapped

June 2016 The UK holds a referendum, voting in favour of Brexit. Refugees are used as a key risk motif in the ‘leave’ campaign, though the UK has opted out of many EU provisions on asylum and is not part of Schengen.

Sep 2016 Construction work begins on the ‘Great Wall of Calais’. A four meter high barrier, running for 1 km along both sides of the main road to the Calais port, paid for by the UK government

Oct 18th 2016 A man in his thirties is found crushed to death in the back of a lorry in Ashford, Kent.

2017 Displaced people return and form informal settlements in the Calais area. Help Refugees reports that between 500 and 1000 people, mostly unaccompanied minors are sleeping in forests and under bridges

Feb 2017 UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd announces the end of the “Dubs scheme”. Just 350 children entered the UK through the scheme

Mar 2017 Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart announces a ban on food distribution in the region to prevent charities giving food to homeless migrants, overturned later that year following legal action by charities

2018 is the first year that small boat Channel crossings start to be noted. Just a few hundred people cross this year

Jan 2018 Sandhurst Treaty – committed the UK to spending €50 million to improve security and reduce illegal migration in northern French ports

April 2018 Three UN Special Rapporteurs criticise the French government on “inhumane” conditions in Calais and Dunkirk. They call for action to end harassment and intimidation of volunteers and members of NGOs providing humanitarian aid

Sep 23rd 2018 A man drowns in the port of Calais after attempting to swim to a ferry to cross the Channel.

Nov 18th 2018 A 25 year old from Chad is killed after becoming trapped in the axle of a bus that he was
hiding under, which went through the Eurotunnel to Folkstone.

Dec 2018 UK Home secretary declared a major incident regarding small boat Channel crossings

2019 1800 small boat Channel crossings this year

Jan 2019 UK-France Joint Action Plan on illegal migration across the Channel in small boats. UK commits £3.6 million for reinforced preventive security measures, such as CCTV, night goggles and number plate recognition capability.

Aug 2019 Home Secretary Priti Patel meets her French counterpart to review progress against the January joint action plan. They agree an addendum to the joint action plan to “intensify joint action to tackle small boat crossings in the Channel”. It sets an “immediate objective” “to halve the number of successful migrant crossings from the number accounted for during the summer months by the end of October, and to reduce it further by the end of December 2019, such that by Spring 2020 it has become an infrequent phenomenon.” Extra €2.5 million committed by UK

Aug 18th 2019 The body of Iraqi man who ‘tried to swim to UK’ from Calais wearing makeshift life vest of plastic bottles is found off Belgian coast

Oct 14th 2019 Two Iraqi Kurd men were found dead on a beach in Le Touquet, Pas-de-Calais. It is presumed that they drowned after falling into the sea while attempting to cross the Channel by boat.

2020 8500 small boat Channel crossings this year

Jul 2020 UK and France sign a “Declaration of Intent” to establish a Franco-British Operational Research Unit (‘Joint Intelligence Cell’), staffed by British and French officers

Aug 19th 2020 A 22 year old named Abdulfatah Hamdallah drowned in the English Channel while trying to cross the Channel on a makeshift boat. His body was found on Sangatte beach near Calais.

Aug 9th 2020 Home Secretary Priti Patel appoints Royal Marine Dan O’Mahoney to a new position of ‘Clandestine Channel Threat Commander‘. He is tasked with making Channel crossings in small boats “unviable”

Sep 21st 2020 Napier Barracks near Folkestone becomes an accommodation site for housing up to 350 asylum seekers, after the The Ministry of Defence temporarily loans it to the UK Home Office.

Oct 18th 2020 The body of a man wearing a lifejacket, possibly Iranian, is found on a beach at Sangatte, Pas de-Calais. It is believed he fell into the sea while attempting to cross the Channel.

Oct 27th 2020 After initial reports of four deaths—seven people die in the English Channel when their boat sinks. A few months later, the body of a missing 15 month old washes up on the coast of Norway from the same sinking.

Nov 2020 UK and France sign a joint statement on tackling illegal migration announces more police to stop irregular journeys, new surveillance and detection technology to detect and disrupt crossing attempts before they happen, steps to support migrants into appropriate accommodation, measures to increase border security UK pledges €31.4 million to support these efforts

2021 28,500 people cross the Channel in small boats this year

March 2021 UK government published ‘New Plan for Immigration‘ policy statement. It outlines a a plan to make all ‘irregular’ arrivals (all small boat arrivals) inadmissible for asylum in the UK, life sentences in prison for those who facilitate irregular travel, expansion of immigration detention, and suggests the possibility of deportation to a ‘safe third country’ (later announced as Rwanda)

June 6, 2021 After a TikTok video of a group of men crossing the English Channel goes viral, Home Secretary Priti Patel writes a letter to Social Media companies calling for the removal of social media posts that “glamourise” Channel crossings.

Jul 2021 UK-France Joint Statement to tackle illegal immigration announces strengthened law enforcement deployments along the coast of France, more wide-area surveillance technology and vehicles, increased border security at key transport infrastructure points, investment in centres dedicated to providing support to migrants across France. UK commits €62.7 million in 2021/22

July 6th 2021 UK government propose the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, making changes to UK immigration system as it relates to asylum seekers and refugees

Aug 27th 2021 ‘The Town and Country Planning Special Development Order 2021‘ gives planning permission for the Napier Barracks to be allowed to continue to be used as asylum accommodation until September 2026. The site was ‘loaned’ to the Home Office by the Ministry of Defence in 2020 at a time of “significant pressure” on the asylum system compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nov 2021 Confirmation that the Border Force staff may be authorised to adopt ‘pushback’ tactics to prevent boats from entering British waters in the English Channe

Nov 2021 27 people drown attempting to cross in the English Channel in a small boat

Nov 2021 UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson writes a public letter to French President Macron proposing some further joint action to address Channel migration.

2021 The UK is disinvited from a meeting with EU partners to discuss policy and judicial cooperation in the Channel and North Sea

2021 FRONTEX (the EU’s external border agency) begins to provide a surveillance planes to fly over the French coastline

Jan 2022 Manston asylum centre opened in Kent to process asylum seekers

April 2022 Memorandum of Understanding between the UK and Rwanda announced. It commits to designation of all Channel crossers as ‘inadmissible’ for asylum in the UK the relocation of asylum seekers in the UK to Rwanda where their claims will be assessed

April 14th 2022 Sitting under a Joint Inter Agency Task Force (JIATF) the UK’s Ministry of Defence takes over command of all assets responding to illegal channel crossings. This is codenamed ‘Operation Isotrope’.

April 28th 2022 The Nationality and Borders Act receives royal assent and becomes law

Oct 5th 2022 At the Conservative Party conference Home Secretary Suella Braverman says: “I would love to have a front page of The Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda, that’s my dream, it’s my obsession“

Oct 27th 2022 A spokesperson for the union that represents border, immigration and customs officials (ISU) reports that the Manston asylum centre in Kent is “catastrophically overcrowded“

Oct 30th 2022 Andrew Leak attacks an immigration centre in Dover with a petrol bomb, before killing himself. Police later state he was motivated by an extreme right-wing anti-migrant terrorist ideology

Nov 2022 – An Iraqi man dies in hospital after falling ill at Manston asylum centre. A month earlier the facility was suffering from “catastrophic overcrowding” and was occupied by an estimated 4,000 people, despite having been designed for just 1,600. 50 residents contract diphtheria between October and November.

Nov 14th 2022 UK-France joint statement: enhancing co-operation against illegal migration announces enhanced surveillance and intelligence gathering, increased French patrols, a Taskforce to reduce Albanian Channel crossers, more surveillance technology and dogs, more reception and removal centres in France. UK commits €72.2 million in 2022/23

Dec 8th 2022 Joint statement on migration issues released after a meeting of UK, French, Belgian, German, Dutch and British interior/migration ministers (the ‘Calais Group’) in Brussels. Confirms the Group’s desire to work towards an EU- UK cooperation agreement on migration

Dec 14th 2022 During a failed attempt to cross the Channel in a small boat, four people drown and 43 are rescued

Dec 19th 2022 The Supreme Court rules that the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda is legal

2022 Throughout 2022, 45,756 people arrive in the UK following small boat crossings, a 60% increase on the 2021 total. 30,000 small boat crossings prevented according to a joint UK-France statement. 42.5% of people attempting to cross being stopped. 53.4% of boats being intercepted and destroyed

Jan 4th 2023 UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promises to “stop migrant boats” crossing the English Channel before the 2024 election

Jan 16th 2023 UK Judges grant permission for the Court of Appeal to consider arguments against the lawfulness of Rwanda deportations. If the appeal is successful, it would overrule the Supreme Court’s decision in December 2022.

Feb 2023 The Royal Navy hands responsibility for small boat crossings in the English Channel back to the Home Office, 10 months after the start of ‘Operation Isotope’.

Feb 6th 2023 The UK Home Office launch ‘Operation Bridora’, where Albanian asylum cases are prioritised in an attempt to speed up deportations.

Feb 9th 2023 In Liverpool, three people are arrested after a violent protest outside Suites hotel, which was being used to house asylum seekers. A police van is set on fire and a number of far-right groups are reportedly involved in organising the protest.

March 7th 2023 Home Secretary Suella Braverman announces plans for a new law which will make everyone who arrived in the UK irregularly (targeting Channel crossers) inadmissible for asylum in the UK

On the same day, PM Rishi Sunak stands on a podium with the slogan “STOP THE BOATS.” This was – word for word – the slogan used by Tony Abbott to win the Australian election a decade prior

March 9th 2023 Home secretary Braverman makes a trip to Rwanda to publicise controversial asylum seeker deportation policy. She is criticised for only inviting rightwing press, excluding the BBC, Guardian, Mirror, and the Independent.

March 23rd 2023 Speaking on BBC RAdio 4, Albanian PM Edi Rama describes Suella Braverman’s comments about migrants as “disgraceful“

March 26th 2023 Braintree district council in Essex considers legal action against Home Office to prevent 1,500 asylum seekers being housed on an airfield.

March 28th 2023 Home Office announce plans to house asylum seekers in military bases, construction barges, and disused cruise ships. The Military bases include an RAF base at Scampton in Lincolnshirea; an RAF site turned prison in Bexhill, East Sussex; a defence base at Wethersfield in Essex; and the Catterick garrison in North Yorkshire.

March 29th 2023 Minister for Immigration Robert Jenrick announced that asylum seekers would be in housed in the most basic facilities possible, with the aim of dissuading Channel crossings and saving money. He announced:

“We must not elevate the wellbeing of illegal migrants above those of the British people“

April 2nd 2023 Suella Braverman says that Rwanda is a safe country for refugees despite evidence that 12 refugees were killed by Rwandan police in 2018.

April 5th 2023 The Home Office announce that 500 male asylum seekers will be housed on a sea barge in Portland Harbour, Dorset, offering “basic and functional accommodation.”

April 29th 2023 An investigation reveals that UK Coast Guard breached international law by leaving at least 440 people adrift in the weeks before the worst Channel disaster in 30 years.

May 1st 2023 The Home Office announce they will acquire fleet of 10 ships, including cruise liners, ferries and barges, to house asylum seekers.

In addition, one maritime company conducts a feasibility study into housing migrants on redundant oil rigs.

June 11th 2023 – British authorities announce that 616 people cross the Channel in small boats, which is the highest number on any single day so far that year. This will be surpassed less than a month later.

July 2nd 2023 – Right-wing Tory MPs urge PM Rishi Sunak to take action to reduce immigration, saying the system is “too lenient“. They suggest refugee numbers should be capped.

July 3rd 2023 – In a House of Lords vote by (216 votes to 163), the Illegal migration bill is watered down, with peers inserting protections for children, LGBT people and pregnant women.

July 7th 2023 The Home Office announce that 683 people crossed the Channel on 13 boats. This is the highest daily figure of the year, surpassing 11 June, when 549 people made the trip. Both of these individual daily records surpass the number of people (539) who crossing in small boats in the whole of 2018.

July 28th 2023 The Home Office buys tents to house asylum seekers, with plans to accomodate up to 2000 people in marquees on former military sites. Refugee charities denounce this plan as “staggering” and “cruel”.

August 6th 2023 – Shadow immigration minister, Stephen Kinnock, says the Labour Party would have “no choice” but to continue housing asylum seekers on barges.

August 7th 2023 – The first asylum seekers are moved to the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset.

August 12th 2023 – All 39 asylum seekers on board the Bibby Stockholm are removed after a potentially deadly bacteria (legionella) is discovered in the water system.

August 23rd 2023 – FOI reveal the Home Office spent over £1,549 of public money painting over cartoon murals at Manston detention camp, after orders from the immigration minister MP Robert Jenrick, stating they were “too welcoming”

September 3rd 2023 – 872 people successfully cross the English Channel on 15 separate vessels. This is the highest daily recorded number in 2023

November 15th 2023 – UK Supreme Court judges find that Rwanda is not a safe third country for the government to send asylum seekers. Judges indicated the Rwanda Plan (the government’s central response to Channel crossings) violates a range of national and international laws which cannot be straightforwardly circumvented. Later the same day Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announces that he will introduce a new law to parliament which will declare Rwanda a safe country (what will become the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill)

December 11th 2023 – An asylum seeker on board the Bibby Stockholm dies after taking his own life. Earlier in the year asylum seekers onboard the barge warned of suicide risk.

December 15th 2023 – One person dies after a small boat carryng 66 people gets into difficulties off the coast of Calais.

December 17th 2023 – The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill passes a vote in the House of Commons and moves to the House of Lords

January 28th 2023 – A report by the charity Alarm Phone finds that increased funding from the UK has meant more French police on French beaches, more violence on the beaches, and thus more of the dangerously overcrowded and chaotic embarkations in which people loose their lives. Rather than saving lives at sea, increased bordering is leading to more overcrowded boats, chaotic departures, and deaths.

Feburary 4th 2023 – Rishi Sunak proposes to stop asylum seekers who cross the Channel in small boats from appealing against their deportation.

August 12th 2023 – Deadly legionella bacteria found in the water supply of the Bibby Stockholm barge. All 39 asylum seekers are evacuated.

October 19th 2023 – Just Stop Oil stop the coach carrying asylum seekers to Bibby Stockholm barge, two months after the vessel was evacuated due to contamination by legionella bacteria

November 13th 2023 – Suella Braverman MP is sacked as Home Secretary, having been accused of stoking tension ahead of far right protests in London.

December 6th 2023 – Immigration minister MP Robert Jenrick resigns after it was revealed that Rwanda legislation would not allow the government to override international law. He writes: “The stakes for the country are too high for us not to pursue the stronger protections required”

December 12th 2023 – Leonard Farruku commits suicide on the Bibby Stockholm barge. He was a 27-year-old asylum seeker and talented musician from Albania, who arrived in the UK in August 2022.

Feburary 24th 2024 – Europe’s leading anti-torture watchdog – Council of Europe – call on the UK to not process asylum claims in Rwanda

March 23rd 2024 – Footage shows French authorities using aggressive tactics against Small Boats, including circling boats, causing waves to flood the dinghy, ramming them, and puncturing boats when they are already at sea, forcing migrants to swim back to shore.

June 4th 2024 – In a televised election debate, Labour leader Kier Starmer accuses Coversavtive leader Rishi Sunak of being “the most liberal prime minister we’ve ever had on immigration”

July 5th 2024 – Labour elected to government with 412 seats, meaning the Conservative Party loses power for the first time in 14 years.

August 3rd 2024 – Islamophobic and anti-refugee race riots breakout across England, as hundreds of people attack hotels that house asylum seekers. Buildings are set on fire in Britain’s worst riots in 13 years.

August 9th 2024 – More than 700 people are arrested and 302 are charged over anti-refugee race riots in England.

September 3rd 2024 – Twelve people die after their boat sinks in the English Channel. Ten are women and girls, and one of the women is pregnant. This is the deadliest loss of life in the Channel so far in 2024.

September 15th 2024 – Eight people die overnight while attempting to cross the English Channel. Their boat is torn on rocks near Ambleteuse, near Boulogne-sur-Mer.

October 5th 2024 – Four people die while attempting to cross the English Channel, including a two-year-old boy. They were crushed and suffocated the bottom of an overcorwded boat.

October 14th 2024 – Leading doctors from the Royal College of Psychiatrists describe Britain’s immigration system as a “public mental health concern,” emphasizing that it harms asylum seekers and risks “re-traumatising” individuals already experiencing psychological distress.

October 18th 2024 – A baby dies after a boat carrying 65 people capsizes off the French coast near Boulogne-sur-Mer. The baby’s name was Maryam Bahez. She was 40 days old, born on her family’s journey from Iraqi Kurdistan.

October 23rd 2024 – Three people died and 45 people were rescued after a lifejacket was spotted by a member of the public out at sea. One of the bodies was recovered by a ferry.

October 27th 2024 – One man dies while attempting to cross the English Channel in an inflatable vassle. This means that at least 57 people died attempting the journey in 2024. making this year the deadliest on record so far.

November 4th 2024 – UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces in a speech to the INTERPOL General Assembly that “People smuggling should be viewed as a global security threat similar to terrorism…we are going to treat people smugglers like terrorists”

He continued: “We’ve already trained sniffer dogs to detect the smell of dinghy rubber”

December 25th 2024 – On Christmas Day, French maritime authororities conduct 12 rescue operations, whilst 451 people arrive in England on 11 boats.

December 29th 2024 – Three people die in the Channel near Calais, and 48 people are rescued from an inflatable boat.

December 31st 2024 – By end of the year, 2024 becomes the deadliest year on record for Channel crossings, with 76 deaths.

At least 36,816 migrants crossed the English Channel to England in 2024, 25% more than the previous year. This is the second highest year, but lower than the record 45,774 arrivals in 2022. Since 2028, 150,000 people have made this journey.

Janurary 4th 2025 – The Refugee Council publish a report calling for special visas to stop Channel deaths: ‘Deaths in the Channel – what needs to change‘

Janurary 10th 2025 – A Syrian man in his 20s is crushed to death inside an overcorwded boat while attempting to reach the UK to claim asylum. He is the first of many to die this year.

Feburary 15th 2025 – A small boat sinks off the Calais coast, killing one person. The person is at least the fourth so far this year to die attempting to cross the Channel in a small boat

Feburary 17th 2025 – A group of more than 900 Labour members and trade unionists, including MPs and peers, accuse the government of copying the “performative cruelty” of the Conservatives in its migration and asylum policy.

March 20th 2025 – Second person in two days dies attempting to cross the Channel, bringing death toll so far in 2025 to at least 10.

March 31st 2025 – PM Kier Starmer said he would tackle illegal migration like terrorism while speaking at the Organised Immigration Crime Summit in London: “And it’s unfair on the illegal migrants themselves, because these are vulnerable people being ruthlessly exploited by vile gangs”

April 16th 2025 – The FT report that the UK and France enter talks regarding a limited returns deal for asylum seekers, focusing on family reunification.

April 18th 2025 – A man dies attempting to cross the Channel in a small boat. Their body was located by a Border Force patrol in the English Channel, two miles out from Dover.