UK Edition
The surge in Channel migrants could have been prevented if the Home Office had taken tougher action earlier, claimed the chief inspector of borders.
David Bolt also warned that the Home Office had neither “the capacity nor the capabilities” to combat the “serious, persistent and adept” threat of illegal entry into the UK, whether by sea, land or air.
In a report on “clandestine entry” into the UK, Mr Bolt said the surge in small boats in late 2018, which culminated in the then Home Secretary Sajid Javid declaring a “major incident,” was not foreseen.
If it had been, and more “decisive action” had been taken to demonstrate the route would not succeed, it “may not have become established in the minds of many migrants and facilitators as an effective method of illegal entry, as the evidence would suggest is now the case", he said.
“By the beginning of 2019, it was already much harder to stop this threat from growing, and by the beginning of 2020 it appeared to be too late.”
Mr Bolt said that initially most small boat migrants were reportedly Iranians but the growing success in early 2020 meant the route became “increasingly attractive to migrants of all nationalities".
His report came as it emerged on Wednesday that the number of migrants who have reached the UK crossing the Channel in small boats this year has topped 8,000 for the first time – four times as many as in 2019.
Border Force intercepted 159 migrants on Tuesday in six boats and 76 on Wednesday, bringing the total number who have crossed the Channel this year to 8,143.
Mr Bolt’s inspection examined the Home Office's handling of "irregular migrants" coming to the UK in small boats, and "clandestine arrivals", known as "lorry drops".
He said there were "no signs of the threat of clandestine entry reducing and recent evidence pointed in the other direction".
There was evidence that immigration enforcement – already stretched – was being forced to switch staff and resources from targeting “lorry drops” to watching small boats.
“While the Home Office has shown some agility in marshalling and reprioritising resources in response, it is hard to avoid the conclusion it has neither the capacity nor the capabilities, in particular in respect of criminal investigation and prosecution, required to manage this threat more effectively,” said Mr Bolt.
“The numbers of attempts and of migrants encountered at each point are undeniably high, and it is clear that the clandestine entry threat is serious, persistent and adept at responding to checks and opportunities.”
The chief inspector criticised efforts to combat “lorry drops” saying the system was “misfiring” with both investigations into them and the pursuit of negligent or complicit drivers “areas for concern.”
In 2018, more than 7,500 migrants were encountered by immigration officers entering hidden in a vehicle but in two-thirds of cases the lorry involved was never identified. In 2019, there were over 10,000 encounters, with the vehicle identified in just over a quarter of cases.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has appointed a threat commander to tackle the crossings, intensified Border Force operations, and increased surveillance and financial support for the French.
However, she has yet to secure an agreement with the French to return migrants to France whether caught at sea or on UK land, which officials and MPs argue would be the most effective deterrent to shut down the route.
A Home Office spokesman said: “We are cracking down on the vile criminals smuggling vulnerable people into the UK and we continue to improve our response.
“Since the inspection, we have established the Clandestine Threat Command to better coordinate Government and law enforcement agencies and the Joint Intelligence Cell in northern France. This has secured 98 arrests in its first two months of operation.
“We are fixing the broken asylum system to make it firm and fair and stop those seeking to reach the UK through illegally-facilitated routes from safe countries.”