Home Office Official Tells MPs Numbers Crossing Channel in Boats Is ‘Unacceptable’

Home Affairs Committee told many Albanians are 'gaming the system'

Illegal immigrants, whose small boat was intercepted in the English Channel, are escorted ashore from a Border Force vessel in Dover, Kent, on Aug. 23, 2022. PA

A senior Home Office official has praised the French for intercepting 28,000 illegal immigrants and destroying more than 1,000 boats but has admitted the number of people crossing the English Channel was still “unacceptable.”

Dan O'Mahoney, the Home Office’s Clandestine Channel Threat Commander, told the Home Affairs Committee on Wednesday 38,000 people had crossed the channel in 936 small boats this year.