Border Force have braced for 22,000 Channel migrants this year as record numbers make the dangerous crossing.
The estimated figure is triple the 8,000 that made the crossing in 2020, and considerably higher than the 2019 figure of 1,000.
Thousands more are expected to be smuggled into the UK through ports inside lorries, as desperate migrants go to any length to get onto British soil.
Analysis by The Times using previous data suggested numbers of migrants making the crossing could double by October, with another 12,900 by the end of the year.
Nearly 400 migrants were detained by Border Force officers in the last three days alone according to new Home Office figures.
On Wednesday, 219 people in 11 boats were intercepted and 175 were picked up in six incidents on Thursday.
The number of migrants crossing the Channel between 2019-21 has been increasing year-on-year. The graph above shows how many have crossed each month. The red line for 2021 soars above the lines for previous years, showing the monthly total is now at its highest ever
The 22,000 estimated figure is triple the 8,000 that made the crossing in 2020, and considerably higher than the 2019 figure of 1,000. Pictured, Border Force officials with recently arrived migrants on July 22
Migrants are pictured on an inflatable craft in a busy shipping lane off the coast of Dover
It takes the number of migrants to have been detained after reaching the UK in small boats to 8,840 - with nearly 3,000 arriving so far in July alone.
Figures for 2021 have already broken the record numbers in 2020 when 8,410 were detained.
But deteriorating weather conditions in the English Channel over the next few days including strong winds is expected to dramatically reduce crossing attempts.
Meanwhile, there has been a rise in stowaways since lockdown restrictions were pared-down in April. Before the pandemic there was an average of 10,000 migrants a year caught inside vehicles in British ports.
Last year the figure dropped to 7,000 but some 8,500 are expected by the end of 2021.
So far this month the French coastguard has dealt with 213 attempted and successful trips in dinghies across the Channel, according to The Times.
And more vulnerable people including pregnant women and those with disabilities have been risking the journey.
French patrol crafts have been allowing boats filled with migrants to leave the coast, with sources even suggesting they're 'escorting' dinghies to the edge of British waters.
Officials revealed harsh methods of interception used in the Mediterranean off Libya and Turkey were too dangerous.
French patrol crafts have been allowing boats filled with migrants to leave the coast, with sources even suggesting they're 'escorting' dinghies to the edge of British waters. Pictured, migrants on a dinghy on July 22
A little toddler was held by their hand as they were brought into Britain after landing
An inflatable craft carrying migrant men, women and children crosses the shipping lane
The maritime prefecture at Cherbourg said: 'All the craft being followed are reported to the British, who take them in charge when they enter their zone of responsibility.'
The French lifeboat service, the SNSM, is called out almost daily to help rescue migrants as risks become greater because of 'growing vulnerability of the passengers including pregnant women, very young children, even handicapped people'.
On Thursday French authorities had to rescue 11 migrants in one small rubber dinghy after they were spotted in difficulties by the crew of a cross-Channel ferry.
The P&O ferry Spirit of Britain raised the alarm after they saw the stricken inflatable off Calais.
French search and rescue vessels picked up the 11 migrants and brought them back into the harbour at Calais while towing
