Thirteen migrants have been intercepted in the Channel by the Border Force.

The group of men, women and children were travelling in a small boat heading towards the UK coast before they were picked up by a Border Force cutter.

They presented themselves as Iranian, Egyptian and Iraqi before being medically assessed and transferred to immigration officials for interview, the Home Office said.

People are continuing to make the dangerous journey from France to Britain despite warnings from the UK government, with the prime minister having said “we will send you back”.

After 11 migrants were intercepted at Dover in August, Boris Johnson said the UK “should not be regarded as a place where you could automatically come and break the law by seeking to arrive illegally”.

Eight-six migrants were intercepted in a single day last month – the highest number ever recorded.

Despite the tough talk from the government, Sky News revealed earlier this month that just 6% of migrants who have crossed the Channel illegally since December have been deported.

Amid a surge in crossings at the end of 2018, the then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid said it was a “major incident” and insisted there would be a major crackdown.

But more than nine months on, Sky News revealed that very few of the more than 1,400 migrants who have successfully made the journey have been returned.

The Home Office refused to say how many migrants had crossed the Channel this year, but Sky News collated data from multiple sources, including police records and local reports of arrivals, and calculated the number to be 1,456.

The Home Office told Sky News it has returned “over 85” this year, which means that only around 6%, or one in 17, have been sent back.

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