Migrants and border officers carried some of the young children rescued in the incident.
A UK Border Force boat has rescued at least 85 migrants off the coast of Kent. The migrants, including young children, were attempting to cross the Channel on dinghies.
It is the latest in a string of Border Force rescues as recent UK government figures show more than 10,000 migrants have arrived in the UK by small boats this year.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has long promised to “stop the boats” arriving across the channel, many of them carrying people seeking asylum. Among the initiatives meant to change the situation is outreach to the government of Albania, whose help is needed to crack down on people-smuggling gangs linked to Albanian organised crime groups.
However, the flow of arrivals continues despite his government’s efforts, and the failure to change the situation has become a major problem for Sunak in the current election, in which his party is universally expected to lose power.
In particular, his plan to deter people from making the crossing by flying asylum claimants to Rwanda to have their claims processed has yet to come to fruition, thanks in large part to legal challenges that have slowed the policy to a halt.
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