The UK Home Office released figures for illegal cross-Channel entries for the first half of 2022 on Thursday, August 25. The number of Channel crossings aboard makeshift boats (small boat) detected by the British Coast Guard has been the subject of daily communication since April, showing a spectacular acceleration of the phenomenon compared to the same period in 2021: 23,465 people between the beginning of the year and August 25, which is 11,000 more than in the same period period of the previous year. Details of migrants’ nationalities, age and gender are updated quarterly.

Albanians and Afghans are the first nationalities

With 2,165 migrants arriving at the bateau de fortune par la Manche, the Albanians constituted the most important contingent (17%), in three strong progressions from the année dernière after seulement, 815 Albanians avaient été comptés sur l’ensemble de l’année 2021 (soit 2.9% of migrants arrivant à bord d’embarcations de fortune. In seconde position, les Afghans, with 17.9% de people (2,066) ayant traversé au first semester, contre 5.3% (1,437 ) last year.

In numbers, the passage of Albanian and Afghan migrants far outnumbered those of Iranians and Iraqis, who alone accounted for the majority of migrants arriving on British shores in the past four years.

While the causes of the increase in the number of Afghans have been clear since the Taliban took power in August 2021, the arrival of Albanians is a recent and massive phenomenon: the British government estimates that more than 3,500 Albanians have arrived since June, which represents 60% of the Canal’s admissions this summer.

A communication campaign aimed at dissuading immigration applicants has been launched, in Albanian.

After the publication of these figures, the Minister of the Interior, Priti Patel, hastened to announced an agreement with the Albanian government to facilitate deportations of Albanians who would be denied asylum. On August 24, a communication campaign aimed at dissuading candidates from immigration was launched in Albanian. In particular, it warns of the risks of arriving in Britain: prison sentences, work restrictions and possible resettlement in Rwanda (the first flight that was supposed to transport 130 migrants to Kigali under this controversial agreement was canceled due to a decision of the European Court of Justice Human Rights).

A large majority of men between 18 and 39 years old

Nearly nine out of ten migrants (88.1%) who arrived in small boat they are men Young adults are the most represented among all the people who have crossed: 44.6% from 25 to 39 years old and 32.2% from 18 to 24 years old.

One thousand seven hundred and sixty-five minors (15.2%) were counted, and the oldest group (over 40) represents only 8% of all these migrants.