More migrants arrive in Dover after another 300 were picked up in the Channel ... trends now
Another group of migrants have arrived in Dover today after more than 300 were picked up in the Channel over the weekend - with the yearly total now topping 8,500.
The migrants, which appear to number around a dozen, were pictured being shepherded ashore at Dover by Border Force officers this morning.
They are presumed to have been picked up from a small boat attempting to cross the Channel.
Today's migrants come after 266 migrants arrived in six boats on Saturday and 54 migrants arrived in one boat on Sunday.
The latest arrivals come after a surge of recent crossings as the people smuggling gangs take advantage of the relatively calm weather to make more landings.
Border Force officials help rescued migrants into Dover today
At least a dozen individuals wearing bright red life jackets disembarked
They were helped onto the docks for processing, some wearing blankets against the cold
There have been 1,288 arriving this month already, according to Home Office figures.
The total number of arrivals for this year has now reached 8,587, a significant upswing compared to this time last year.
This is around 34 per cent higher than the total at the equivalent point last year, which was 6,192, and 19 per cent higher than the total at this stage in 2022, which was 6,945.
On Wednesday 711 people were detected crossing the English Channel, which is highest number on a single day so far this year.
The highest-ever number of arrivals in a single day is 1,295, which was recorded on August 22, 2022.
Last year 29,437 migrants arrived in the UK, down 36 per cent on a record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.
The series of crossings come as the Rwandan government admitted it could not guarantee how many migrants it will take from the UK under Rishi Sunak's flagship deportation scheme.
A group of migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent by the RNLI last week after being picked up
A French policeman slashes an inflatable dinghy filled with migrants trying to leave a beach
But Yolande Makolo, a spokeswoman for the east African state, did deny that Rwanda would be able to take a minuscule 200, saying this was the capacity of just one hostel in the country that is slated to house them.
Asked by the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg if Rwanda would be able to process tens of thousands of migrants, the official said: 'We will be able to welcome the migrants that the UK sends over the lifetime of this partnership.
'What I cannot tell you is how many thousands we are taking in the first year or the second year. This will depend on very many factors that are being worked out right now', she said.
The perilous crossings cost more lives last week, as five drowned when nearly 100 migrants piled into a small boat which sank off the French coast, including Sara Alhashimi, seven.
Her distraught father, Ahmed, 41, said he all he wanted was for ‘my kids to go to school’ and saw the UK as his last chance after 14 years of failed claims to stay on the continent, even though his daughter was born in Belgium.
Sara had spent most of her short life living with relatives in liberal Sweden, which has boasted of its open doors policy but gave her just two days’ notice that she would be deported.
