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Britain |
Migrant channel crossings top 100,000 since 2018 |
2023-08-12 |
[Dawn] More than 100,000 Some 755 Those boats bring the number of arrivals so far this year to nearly 16,000, and takes the total since counting the perilous cross-Channel journeys started in 2018 to 100,715. Also on Friday, officials were relocating asylum-seekers from a barge docked off the southwest English coast after Legionella bacteria was found in the water only days after the "The health and welfare of individuals on the vessel is our utmost priority," a ministry spokesperson added. The Channel crossings have become a highly contentious political issue and prompted the UK government to introduce legislation barring asylum claims by all arrivals via the Channel and other "illegal" routes. The new law also mandates their transfer to third countries, such as Rwanda, but both policies are on hold amid a court challenge over the legality of sending ...the Oyster Bay money pit... ’ refugee agency. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government claims it has been forced to pursue the hardline deterrents as the surge in cross-Channel arrivals increasingly stretches resources. 2023 NUMBERS LOWER Britannia’s asylum system is facing a huge backlog, a delay that rights groups assert is of the government’s own making. At the end of March, more than 130,000 asylum-seekers were in limbo, still waiting for their applications to be processed. The cost of housing those applicants and other migrant arrivals has reached more than six million pounds ($7.6 million) a day, according to officials, as they resort to using hotels and other temporary accommodation. But the move to house Sunak, who made "stopping the boats" one of his five key aims in 2023 ahead of an expected general election next year, has insisted his strategy is prevailing, despite the arrivals. The issue is set to remain prominent, with migration a perennial top concern of voters, particularly those who typically opt for his Conservatives. The final tally of cross-Channel arrivals in 2023 appears set to be lower than the previous year for the first time since the route began to grow in popularity at the end of the last decade. Just 299 |
Posted by:trailing wife |