More than 20,000 illegal immigrants have been detected crossing the English Channel in small boats to reach the UK since the beginning of 2022, UK government figures show.
Some 607 were detected on Aug. 13 crossing the Channel in 14 boats, taking the provisional total for the year to 20,017.
There were altogether 28,526 crossings detected in 2021. By this point last year, just over 11,300 crossings had been made.
There have been 3,618 crossings detected in August so far, with 1,694 in the past week, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The highest daily total for 2022 to date was recorded on Aug. 1, when 696 people made the crossing in 14 boats.
A record 1,185 people made the crossing to the UK on Nov. 11, 2021, the highest number recorded since the start of 2020….