Nearly 8,000 people have arrived in the UK so far this year having crossed the English Channel in small boats following the latest arrivals this weekend.
Today, at least 300 people were picked up by Border Force vessels and RNLI lifeboats in the Channel while 167 people made the crossing in 13 boats yesterday, according to the Ministry of Defence.
Around 20 people, mainly men, were brought onto the beach at Dungeness while most other migrants were taken into the harbour at the Port of Dover.
One young British soldier was seen carefully cradling a baby in his arms as a family disembarked from a lifeboat. He carried the baby slowly up the walkway while her parents helped her older sister, who was seen crying after she fell over on the gangway.
The groups were taken onto coaches to be driven to the immigration processing centre at the former Manston airport.
According to official figures 1,264 have made the crossing so far this month alone.
It takes the total so far this year to 8,066 who have been detained by Border Force in 256 small boats.
The latest crossings come as the Home Office said it will begin the process of informing the first asylum seekers that they could be flown to Rwanda under its new resettlement scheme, with flights expected to begin in ‘the coming months’.
However, Tom Pursglove, minister for justice and tackling illegal migration, told the Home Affairs Committee this week that the scheme was a ‘new and untested policy’ and could not point to what modelling was used to give the ‘evidence base’ to implement it.
Around 20 people, mainly men, were brought onto the beach at Dungeness while most other migrants were taken into the harbour at the Port of Dover.
One young British soldier was seen carefully cradling a baby in his arms as a family disembarked from a lifeboat. He carried the baby slowly up the walkway while her parents helped her older sister, who was seen crying after she fell over on the gangway.
The groups were taken onto coaches to be driven to the immigration processing centre at the former Manston airport.
According to official figures 1,264 have made the crossing so far this month alone.
It takes the total so far this year to 8,066 who have been detained by Border Force in 256 small boats.
The latest crossings come as the Home Office said it will begin the process of informing the first asylum seekers that they could be flown to Rwanda under its new resettlement scheme, with flights expected to begin in ‘the coming months’.
However, Tom Pursglove, minister for justice and tackling illegal migration, told the Home Affairs Committee this week that the scheme was a ‘new and untested policy’ and could not point to what modelling was used to give the ‘evidence base’ to implement it.