They are mainly single men, all arrived on precarious boats from France. It had been almost two weeks since the crossings had been spaced out
With our correspondent in London, Emeline Wine
This is not a record, but the figure remains impressive: 254 migrants were intercepted on Sunday May 1 by the British coast guard and a hundred on Monday. According to the NGOs, this is probably a catch-up effect after eleven days without a known crossing of the Channel.
For the British government, this is proof that its migration policy works and deters asylum seekers. Last week went into effect the migration partnership with Rwanda. Migrants who arrived on British soil illegally can now be sent to Kigali and forced to seek asylum there.
Care4Calais NGO, active in the camps in the north of France, indicates, after asking the question to 60 migrants, that the prospect of being sent to Rwanda would deter only 25% of them from crossing the Channel. For the associations, the break is mainly explained by the weather, which was rather cold and windy at the end of April.
Since the start of 2022, 6,000 people are believed to have arrived in Dover illegally by sea. More than any other year in this period.