increasingly numerous migrants crossing the Channel

They no longer make the headlines and yet, in the Channel, migrant crossings have never been so numerous. Nearly 800 people reached England on makeshift boats during the Easter weekend.

The statistical curve has soared since the start of 2024, more than 5,300 people have taken to the sea illegally from the French coast, around 40% more than last year over the same period. There are more and more candidates for exile, and smugglers are making them take more and more risks. Every day, the coast guard intercepts inflatable zodiacs crammed with more than 50 passengers, men, women and children. Since January, there have been at least seven drownings during the crossing, including a seven-year-old girl and a 14-year-old teenager.

However, the fight against illegal immigration is one of the priorities of the British government, which promised to “stop the boats“It worked at least last year, since we went from 45,000 crossings in 2022 to 30,000 in 2023. Rishi Sunak’s government prides itself on having adopted extremely restrictive laws on asylum, but his flagship measure, his bill which would allow him to expel migrants to Rwanda, is still not on track. The House of Lords is blocking it, it wants to make the text a little more humane.

A campaign to deter the Vietnamese

London must also constantly adapt to changing nationalities. While there are still many Afghans, Iranians, Turks and Eritreans on rubber boats, there are also more and more Vietnamese fleeing economic poverty.

To the point that last week, the British Interior Ministry launched a dissuasion campaign on Facebook and YouTube in Vietnam, with videos which recount the sometimes dire conditions of the crossing or the extremely harsh living conditions of migrants in this situation. irregular. Senior officials from the UK and Vietnam are due to meet in London on April 17 to discuss an even closer partnership on migration issues. Last year, a similar campaign in Albania, combined with mass expulsions, reduced the arrivals of Albanian nationals by 90%.

Rise of anti-migrant discourse

Despite everything, the migration issue is weakening the conservatives before the legislative elections which will take place in a few months. Polls are already predicting a landslide victory for the Labor opposition. But if the Channel crossings continue, they will further weaken the government camp.

More generally, in this “super election year” where almost half of the world’s population has gone or will go to the polls, the UN agency for migration (IOM) warns against rise of anti-migrant discourses in the political landscape, in Europe as in the United States.

Whether “crime rate, inflation, unemployment or insecurity“, says the director of the agency, Amy Pope, the illegals form the perfect scapegoats, even though “speeches and reality have nothing to do with each other“Discourses that feed the extremes and crack our societies. But it’s easy: illegals don’t vote.