Is there a crisis at the border?

Home secretary Sajid Javid has declared the rising number of migrants attempting to cross the Channel to be a major incident. Javid has appointed a gold commander to deal with the growing crisis and asked for an urgent call with his French counterpart to discuss the issue.

The Home Office said Javid had commissioned detailed options from Border Force about the provision of additional vessels in the Channel, including another Border Force cutter, even if it might encourage more people to try to make the crossing rather than act as a deterrent.

How many migrants have crossed the Channel on small boats?

The Home Office had initially refused to give official figures on the number of migrants who have crossed the Channel over the past few months, but finally released figures on 31 December 2018. The update stated 539 migrants have attempted to travel to the UK on small boats in 2018. Around 80%, or 434, made their attempts in the last three months of the year. Of these, 227 (42%) were intercepted by the French before they made it to the UK, according to the Home Office.

Is this a new trend?

Migrants have been crossing the channel on small boats since the beginning of the year but charities agree it is a relatively new route for those desperate to reach the UK.

Caroline Gregory, who works with Calais Action, which has been supporting migrants in northern France for the past three years, said migrants attempting to reach the UK often do so by waiting around in Calais before stowing themselves on to lorries and vans travelling across the channel. This is an incredibly dangerous journey that many migrants have died undertaking, she added.

Since the Calais refugee camp, which had 10,000 residents at its height, was dismantled in 2016, the British government has invested millions into border security to prevent another refugee camp forming in Calais or any other Channel port. The extra money has gone towards fencing, CCTV and other detection technology in Calais and other ports. It will also be used to help relocate migrants from the port towns to other parts of France.

Gregory said this has made it all the more difficult for migrants to smuggle themselves on to UK-bound vans and lorries or stow away on trains and larger ships used by ferry services. It may have displaced migration flows away from moving vehicles to boats.

But the route to the UK is also dependent on someone’s financial circumstances. Those who can afford to pay a smuggler to put them on a small boat to cross the Channel have been able to recently take the opportunity to do so, while others are still taking their chances on vans, lorries, trains or larger ships.

Why are they coming now?

There are a few factors at play. Charities said the recent arrivals were due to intolerable conditions in the camps in France, including police brutality and intimidation, and a growing sense of “now or never” as Brexit and future immigration restrictions loom. Other also suggest smugglers are exploiting new routes to get migrants to the UK.

Who is getting on these small boats?

There’s been a noticeable number of Iranian migrants getting on small boats to cross the Channel. There has also been a notable spike in the number of Iranian nationals currently in northern France. The Guardian understands 273 Iranians were transferred to migrant reception centres from Calais since August. Many had been picked up attempting to make the crossing from France to the UK.

But charities have been observing migrants from a number of countries attempting to cross the Channel, including Afghans.

Where are migrants coming from?

The migrants are largely travelling from northern France but come from all over the world. Currently, there are between 1,000 and 2,000 people in camps in Calais and Grande-Synthe in France.

Josh Hallam, a field manager for Help Refugees, who works in northern France, said: “In Grande-Synthe it’s mostly Kurdish people from Iraq and Iran and smaller groups from Pakistan and Sudan. In Calais, it’s mostly Iraqi Kurds, Iranians, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Afghans and Sudanese.”

Why are they not claiming asylum in France?

The migrants keen to come to the UK make up a small fraction of migrants in Europe, Gregory said. She added many had a compelling reason drawing them to the UK; they were often keen to reunite with family members and loved ones, already spoke English or felt they would be safer and more likely to succeed in the UK.

Hallam, who has worked with migrants for the past couple of years, said conditions in northern France are the worst he has ever seen. He said the police have conducted regular raids on the encampments where they have destroyed tents, disposed of people’s personal belongings and even pepper sprayed families and young unaccompanied minors in attempts to disperse them. “Migrants and asylum seekers have been completely scarred by their experiences here,” he said, adding many were not keen to seek asylum in a country where they have been treated so poorly.