Terrified with her teddy: Little girl clutches cuddly toy as she's carried ashore after 80 migrants landed in Dover today... as critics say government's Rwanda plan to deter people smugglers is 'not working'

  • Around 80 migrants landed in Dover today after making the perilous journey across the Channel
  • Young girl clutching a teddy bear was among those escorted into Dover Marina in Kent this morning 
  • MoD revised the number of migrants which have crossed the Channel from more than 10,000 down to 9,941 
  • Total number this year is more than double those who had reached the UK by June 3 in 2021 
  • It has sparked renewed fears that Boris Johnson's flagship Rwanda policy will fail

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A young girl clutching a teddy bear was among the 80 migrants who landed in Dover in around three boats today, as fears grow that Boris Johnson's Rwanda plan is not working.

The mostly male group, which included children and a woman carrying a teddy bear, was escorted into Dover Marina in Kent on board Border Force catamaran Typhoon by UK officials wearing white Hazmat suits and masks shortly before 11am this morning.

Soldiers dressed in camouflage fatigues and high-vis vests helped the latest arrivals off the vessel and led them along the gangway for processing. 

Two infant children were carried in the arms of adults while a primary school-aged boy wandered along the walkway alone.

Several migrants could be seen carrying their belongings with them as they disembarked the boat. One woman clutched a small teddy bear in her hand, while another man had his rucksack taken by the British military.

It comes as the Ministry of Defence revised the number of migrants which have crossed the English Channel this year from more than 10,000 down to 9,941.

The MoD originally reported that 436 migrants arrived in the UK on May 15 - later downgrading the number to 389. But the total number of migrants to arrive so far this year is more than double those who had reached the UK by June 3 in 2021 when just over 4,200 people had been detained.

According to official Home Office figures 28,526 made the crossing in 2021 - compared to 8,410 who arrived in 2020.

A young girl is carried by a security officer as a group of migrants lands in Dover, Kent, June 7, 2022

A young girl is carried by a security officer as a group of migrants lands in Dover, Kent, June 7, 2022

A young boy is pictured being carried to shore in Dover Marina, Kent on June 7, 2022

A young boy is pictured being carried to shore in Dover Marina, Kent on June 7, 2022

A group of migrants including children is brought ashore to Dover Marina after crossing the Channel, June 7, 2022

A group of migrants including children is brought ashore to Dover Marina after crossing the Channel, June 7, 2022 

Women, including one seen clutching a teddy bear, are brought ashore to Dover Marina, June 7, 2022

Women, including one seen clutching a teddy bear, are brought ashore to Dover Marina, June 7, 2022

A young boy is carried ashore to Dover Marina in Kent after crossing the Channel in a small boat, June 7, 2022

A young boy is carried ashore to Dover Marina in Kent after crossing the Channel in a small boat, June 7, 2022

A UK official talks to a male migrant carrying a young boy in Dover Marina, Kent, June 7, 2022

A UK official talks to a male migrant carrying a young boy in Dover Marina, Kent, June 7, 2022

A group of migrants including children is brought ashore to Dover Marina, Kent after crossing the Channel, June 7, 2022

A group of migrants including children is brought ashore to Dover Marina, Kent after crossing the Channel, June 7, 2022

A male migrant wearing a facemask is pictured walking towards a UK official in Dover Marina, June 7, 2022

A male migrant wearing a facemask is pictured walking towards a UK official in Dover Marina, June 7, 2022

A man and woman walk up the gangway in Dover Marina, Kent while carrying a young boy, June 7, 2022

A man and woman walk up the gangway in Dover Marina, Kent while carrying a young boy, June 7, 2022

A young girl carries a soft toy in her life vest as a group of migrants lands in Dover, June 7, 2022

A young girl carries a soft toy in her life vest as a group of migrants lands in Dover, June 7, 2022

The MoD today revised the number of migrants which have crossed this year from more than 10,000 down to 9,941

The MoD today revised the number of migrants which have crossed this year from more than 10,000 down to 9,941

REVEALED: Top civil servant warned Priti Patel there was not enough evidence plan would act as a deterrent 

A top civil servant warned Priti Patel there was not enough evidence the plan would act as a deterrent. 

Ms Patel issued a ministerial direction, only the second in the department for 30 years, to force through the policy after objections from Permanent Secretary Matthew Rycroft.

Mr Rycroft had warned that there was not enough evidence of the 'deterrent effect' of the plan and that he could not justify the policy's value for money.

Senior Home Office civil servants have expressed dismay at the cost. One said: 'It will be astronomical. The legal bill alone will be huge.' 

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It has sparked renewed fears that the Conservative Government's flagship policy to end the people-smuggling route through deportation risks failing. 

Former Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib told Talk TV yesterday: 'If the aim of the Rwanda plan was to deter people coming across the Channel, it's not actually working is it? Because since they announced it we've had record numbers coming across again. We've got to stop this movement of people, illegally, across the Channel.'

About 100 people deemed to have crossed the Channel illegally in dinghies have been sent 'removal notices' by the Home Office, telling them that they will be deported to Rwanda.

The first flight is due to take off on June 14, but last-minute legal challenges are expected.

A group of 17 failed asylum-seekers being held at Brook House detention centre near Gatwick Airport staged a five-day hunger strike over the controversial policy, while others are said to have attempted suicide.

Home Secretary Priti Patel vowed earlier this week: 'While we know attempts will now be made to frustrate the process and delay removals, I will not be deterred and remain fully committed to delivering what the British public expect.'

Single men are said to be amongst the first migrants being sent away by Home Office lawyers. The Government had wanted flights to Kigali to start by the end of May under the £120million deal it secured with the Kagame government last month.

The warnings tell them they will be flown to Rwanda and 'supported to build a new life there' if they don't withdraw their asylum application and agree to return to their country of origin.

Rwanda will process asylum claims and 'settle or remove' them in line with Rwandan and international laws, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson adding that tens of thousands of migrants could potentially be flown out to East Africa in the coming years. Minister later said figures were more likely to remain in the hundreds.

The Home Secretary's team is 'ready for legal challenges', while Boris Johnson lashed out at 'liberal lawyers' for delaying his plan to send thousands of migrants from the UK to Rwanda - and vowed to 'get it done'.

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, June 7, 2022

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, June 7, 2022

The mostly male group landed in Dover, Kent this morning after crossing the Channel, June 7, 2022

The mostly male group landed in Dover, Kent this morning after crossing the Channel, June 7, 2022

A group of people thought to be migrants is brought ashore in Dover, Kent after crossing the Channel, June 7, 2022

A group of people thought to be migrants is brought ashore in Dover, Kent after crossing the Channel, June 7, 2022

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, June 7, 2022

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, June 7, 2022

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel, June 7, 2022

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel, June 7, 2022

A female migrant is pictured carrying a teddy bear as she is brought ashore to Dover Marina, Kent, June 7, 2022

A female migrant is pictured carrying a teddy bear as she is brought ashore to Dover Marina, Kent, June 7, 2022 

A record 28,395 migrants reached the UK illegally last year in small boats over the Channel, a 200 per cent increase on 2020

A record 28,395 migrants reached the UK illegally last year in small boats over the Channel, a 200 per cent increase on 2020

Number of migrants to cross the Channel by boat was THREE TIMES higher in the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2021 as 4,540 arrived in the UK 

The number of migrants to cross the Channel by boat was three times higher in the first three months of 2022 than during the same time last year, with 4,540 people arriving in the UK.

A report by the Home Office published today said in January to March this year there was an average of 32 people on each boat, compared to 18 people per boat in the same months last year.

The number of boats making the journey has also almost doubled from 74 to 141 during the same time period, with crossings taking place on 30 out of 90 days.

And these numbers show no sign of falling, with the Ministry of Defence saying more than 2,600 migrants in 87 boats have crossed the Channel in May alone.

That's despite bad weather out at sea forcing a temporary break in crossings between May 9 and May 14, something that will become more uncommon as waters get calmer in Summer.

It comes after it was reported that some migrants are being forced onto rafts made of multiple dinghies taped together as people smugglers use dangerous new tactics to boost the numbers they're sending across the Channel.  

Desperate families making their way from France to the UK are being put in increasingly dangerous situations as human traffickers tell them it was their 'last chance' to get to the UK before the Rwanda scheme.

 

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Minister for Justice and Tackling Illegal Migration, Tom Pursglove MP, has said: 'The rise in dangerous Channel crossings is unacceptable.

'Not only are they an overt abuse of our immigration laws but they also impact on the UK taxpayer, risk lives and our ability to help refugees come to the UK via safe and legal routes. Rightly, the British public has had enough.

'Through our Nationality and Borders Bill, we're cracking down on people smugglers and fixing the broken system by making it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK illegally and introducing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for those who facilitate illegal entry into our country.'

The French regional operational surveillance and rescue centre (CROSS) in Gris-Nez identified several boats in difficulty in the Calais Strait on Tuesday.

The all-weather boat, Jean Bart, recovered 41 migrants from the Channel and dropped them at the port of Dunkirk, while the Maritime Affairs patrol boat, Jeanne Barret, picked up 45 shipwrecked people and escorted them to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer.

They were then taken care of by the French border police and the departmental fire and rescue services.

Migrants sent to Rwanda next month will be put up at taxpayers' expense in a hotel with a swimming pool, spa facilities, free WIFI, flat screen TVs with satellite channels, a tennis court, a gym and access to a golf course, MailOnline can reveal. 

The all-inclusive holiday style conditions await many of those diverted from trying to cross the Channel by boat under a controversial plan from Miss Patel.

Up to 100 migrants are set to be flown to the East African state in June as part of the government's crack-down on the soaring number of illegal Channel crossings to the UK.

Precise details of the 6,000-mile deportation flights are being closely guarded by the British and Rwandan governments. 

But MailOnline has learned that the first plane-load of migrants could arrive in the capital Kigali as early as mid-June, ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference which will be held there.

And the luckiest among them are those that will be sent to the Desir Resort Hotel.

Set in a quiet suburb on the outskirts of the capital city, Kigali, the Desir has a swimming pool, an outside bar and restaurant and spa facilities.

There is also free WIFI, a tennis court, gym and access to a golf course. All rooms have a private bathroom with a shower.

For guests booking on the open market, VIP rooms with kitchen facilities cost £46 per night. Single rooms cost £23 per night and twin rooms cost £46, both including breakfast.

The restaurant at three-star Desir Resort Hotel offers a choice of local and western food, including grilled tilapia fish, beef burgers and pizza.

Guests can enjoy imported Heineken beer as well as locally brewed Primus and Skol beer. Red and white wine is served at the bar and there is a wide range of spirits.

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover after crossing the Channel, June 7, 2022

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover after crossing the Channel, June 7, 2022

A male migrant is pictured carrying a young child as he speaks to a UK official at Dover Marina in Kent, June 7, 2022

A male migrant is pictured carrying a young child as he speaks to a UK official at Dover Marina in Kent, June 7, 2022

A man carries a young boy wearing a lifejacket as they are brought ashore to Dover Marina, June 7, 2022

A man carries a young boy wearing a lifejacket as they are brought ashore to Dover Marina, June 7, 2022

Set in a quiet suburb on the outskirts of the capital city, Kigali, the Desir Resort Hotel has a swimming pool, an outside bar and restaurant and spa facilities

Set in a quiet suburb on the outskirts of the capital city, Kigali, the Desir Resort Hotel has a swimming pool, an outside bar and restaurant and spa facilities

The Home Office is thought to have informed about 100 individuals that they will be sent to Rwanda where their asylum claim will be processed. Pictured: The swimming pool at the Desir

The Home Office is thought to have informed about 100 individuals that they will be sent to Rwanda where their asylum claim will be processed. Pictured: The swimming pool at the Desir

The outdoor restaurant a the Desir Resort Hotel, where British taxpayers will be funding refugees stays until a decision is made on their immigration status

The outdoor restaurant a the Desir Resort Hotel, where British taxpayers will be funding refugees stays until a decision is made on their immigration status

All of the hotel's 72 rooms are equipped with flat-screen TV, with satellite channels as well as ironing facilities.  

Guests currently staying at the Desir include a group of Portuguese engineers and wealthy Rwandan families visiting the capital from the countryside. The six-strong team from Lisbon have been contracted to oversee the building of a shopping mall in Kigali.

Front desk staff at the hotel refused to discuss their involvement with British immigration project.

But operations manage Jackie Uwamungu welcomed the deal. She said: 'Business is just recovering from the long disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. So the migrants deal is a welcome relief. It will boost our business.'

She added: 'We have VIP, silver, double and twin rooms, a swimming pool and a conference hall.'

Nearby attractions to the Desir include the Niyo Art Gallery.

Kigali city centre is about two and a half miles away but the journey on a motorcycle taxi takes just ten minutes and costs less than £2.

By contrast, most Rwandans live in basic houses made out of earth bricks and corrugated iron and survive on less than £3 per day.

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