UK, France in War of Words Over Illegal Immigrant Crossings in English Channel

Illegal imigrants carry children as they are escorted to be processed after being picked up by an Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboat while crossing the English Channel at a beach in Dungeness, southeast England, on Sept. 7, 2021. Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images

The continuing illegal immigration crisis in the English Channel has sparked an unusually heated exchange of words between the governments of Britain and France.

At least 14,100 people have crossed the English Channel to the UK aboard small boats this year, according to data compiled by the PA news agency. The figure so far is already nearly 6,000 higher than the number of people who made the crossing in the whole of last year.