Border Force officers brought migrants suspected of illegal entry into Dover on Saturday following a busy night of Channel crossings from northern France. The arrivals coincide with Germany passing tough new legislation this week that could jail people smugglers for up to 10 years.
Since the start of 2025, 40,652 migrants have crossed the Channel according to Press Association analysis of government figures. While this year's pace has been faster than previous years, the total has not yet reached the record 45,755 crossings recorded in 2022.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper described the German law as a direct result of UK-Germany cooperation. «This major change in German law is the result of our close partnership working to tackle illegal migration and organised immigration crime. We will continue to ramp up our international co-operation to strengthen our own border security,» she stated.
The new legislation, effective before year's end, aims to strengthen law enforcement and prosecutorial powers while improving information sharing between the UK and Germany. The measure builds on a December deal between the two countries that included actions to remove smugglers' advertising from social media platforms.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
