More than 24,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to reach the UK so far this year with 4,107 intercepted by Border Force this month alone

• Among the new arrivals were a number of small children in winter jackets  

More than 24,000 migrants have now crossed the English Channel in dinghies this year after 212 asylum seekers were recorded making the perilous journey on Tuesday – including a number of small children. 

Migrants packed onto three boats were rescued and brought to the Port of Dover yesterday – just hours after French media reported a suspected asylum seeker had been found dead on a beach near Calais.  

Small children wrapped up in puffer jackets were seen arriving at the major port, alongside young men and women, as Suella Braverman claimed those crossing the Channel are not facing ‘imminent peril’. 

The migrants were transported to the Kent port by a UK Border Force cutter after being saved from the sea, breaking a nine-day hiatus of migrants attempting to make the illegal crossing.

Official Home Office data shows that with yesterday’s arrivals, 24,208 migrants have been recorded crossing the strait to date in 2023. In September alone 4,107 migrants have been picked up in the Channel in 74 boats. 

One woman can be seen carrying a boy in her arms as they are led to the immigration processing centre

Other migrants arriving on Tuesday were taken away by coach from the Port of Dover

More than 24,000 migrants have now crossed the English Channel in dinghies so far this year after 212 asylum seekers were recorded making the perilous journey on Tuesday

They were brought up the gangway into the immigration processing centre. Many were wrapped in winter clothing and red life jackets.

The arrivals were the first in nine days after the last tranche of 56 migrants packed into one dinghy was detected on September 17.

Dover’s arrivals come as the first named storm of the season, Storm Agnes, batters Britain with 80mph winds and heavy rains today – making crossing the English Channel in small boats extremely hazardous.

On Tuesday a woman, thought to be aged 24 and from Eritrea, was discovered on the beach at Sangatte near Calais, according to the French paper La Voix du Nord.

The woman, who has not been identified, was found unconscious when paramedics arrived before dawn.

They tried to resuscitate her but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The circumstances of the tragedy are not yet known, but witnesses claimed she was trampled on a boat trying to reach the UK before going overboard, unconscious.

The paper says her spouse then jumped into the sea to find her before bringing her back to the beach.

Migrants were brought up the gangway into the immigration processing centre. Many were wrapped in winter clothing and red life jackets. 

Among those arriving on Tuesday included a number of young children – with a woman pictured carrying a toddler in her arms 

Officials at Dover lead to migrants to into the immigration processing centre on Tuesday 

Some 212 asylum seekers were recorded making the perilous journey across the Channel on Tuesday (pictured is one migrant being driven away in a coach)

Her cause of death is not yet known. A post mortem will take place in Lille in the coming days, according to the prosecutor’s office in Boulogne-sur-Mer, the paper said.

In August six Afghan migrants also died trying to make the dangerous crossing.

READ MORE: Eritrean migrant, 24, is found dead on Calais beach after falling off a small boat while she tried to cross the Channel to reach the UK

The crossing has become even more deadly in recent months as it was revealed traffickers are putting more migrants onto each boat to make up for money lost after they were forced to reduce Channel crossing prices to attract poorer asylum seekers.

Natalie Elphicke, MP for Dover, branded people smugglers ‘ruthless criminals’ and said cramming more people into dinghies risks another tragedy occurring in the Channel.

She said: ‘The people smugglers will stop at nothing to make money.

‘They peddle a promise of a land of opportunity when in fact they trade in danger and death. They are brutal ruthless criminals.

‘Boats now being used are more dangerous and likely to collapse, with their thin rubber and plywood construction.

‘So-called lifejackets are not safe for the deep and fast English Channel.

‘They’ve been cramming more and more people into the boats making it even more dangerous.

‘Make no mistake every day risks another tragedy in the Channel. That’s why more needs to be done to stop the boats getting into the water in the first place.’

Meanwhile, Home Secretary Suella Braverman has declared that multiculturalism has ‘failed’ in Europe and threatens social cohesion in the nation state.

The Home Secretary, giving a speech on migration in the United States, said a ‘misguided dogma of multiculturalism’ has allowed people to come to the UK 

Men, women and children were spotted being brought ashore aboard Border Force patrol ships at the harbour

A stock image of Blériot beach in Calais where a young woman, 24, was found dead after falling off a small boat in an attempt to cross the Channel to the UK. The pictured migrants are not related to this story

The Home Secretary, giving a speech on migration in the United States, said a ‘misguided dogma of multiculturalism’ has allowed people to come to the UK with the aim of ‘undermining the stability and threatening the security of society’. 

Setting out the ‘civic argument’ against illegal migration, Ms Braverman said: ‘Uncontrolled immigration, inadequate integration and a misguided dogma of multiculturalism have proven a toxic combination for Europe over the last few decades.

‘Multiculturalism makes no demands of the incomer to integrate. It has failed because it allowed people to come to our society and live parallel lives in it. They could be in the society but not of the society.

‘And, in extreme cases, they could pursue lives aimed at undermining the stability and threatening the security of society.’

Migration to the UK and Europe in the last 25 years ‘has been too much, too quick, with too little thought given to integration and the impact on social cohesion’, she said. 

Anneliese Dodds, the Labour Party chairwoman, told GB News: ‘International conventions are not the reason why the Conservative Government is failing in particular to take action against the international people-smuggling gangs.’ 

Highlighting that the Home Office is spending about £8million per day on hotels for asylum seekers, Ms Dodds added: ‘I’m afraid the responsibility for all of this lies squarely with the Conservative Government. 

Stopping the boats crossing the Channel was one of five pledges made by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the start of this year.  

A man wearing a red life jacket cradles a small youngster in his arms after being brought ashore as Border Force officials look on

The rubber-stamping of the Illegal Migration Act in July was seen as a pivotal moment in making that vow come to fruition.

Under the new law, those arriving via the Channel can be deported to their country of origin, or to Rwanda after ministers struck a deal with the east African country.

But the Kigali plan is tied up in the courts, with a deportation flight yet to take off. 

Mr Sunak’s plans to house asylum seekers in the Bibby Stockholm came to an embarrassing halt within days of it being used in August when migrants had to disembark after a Legionella health scare.

Migrants are yet to return to docked barge , but recent tests for the deadly bacteria were deemed to be ‘satisfactory’, The Guardian reported earlier this week. 

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