"Small boats migrant crisis fuelled by 10m illegal migrants detected in EU in 12 years,” says report

Amongst our findings : "The annual rate of detected illegal migrants in the EU has doubled in only five years”

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024

Today's report from the Facts4EU.Org think-tank shows how the UK’s small boat crisis has been created by the EU’s inability to police its own borders.

“With numbers continuing to increase significantly each year, the blame for the UK’s crisis must lie with the EU,” says our report.

A Brexit Facts4EU.Org Series

Part I - The net rise in the population of the EU27
Part II - How it was the EU that created the UK's illegal migrant boat crisis (This report)
Part III - 66% rise in the EU’s number of first-time asylum seekers in the last 5 years
Part IV - Proportion of migrants rejected by the EU - and numbers deported

“Things can only get… worse” – The trend is NOT our friend

In the 10 days since Keir Starmer scrapped the Rwanda scheme on Day One of his premiership, over 1,000 have made the crossing from Macron’s France, despite poor weather and the risk this brings.

Most recently, in April five drowned when a boat carrying 110 people got into difficulties off the ‘Beach of the Germans’, near Calais.

This report focuses on the extraordinary number of migrants who have been able to enter the EU illegally – a number which has been growing. This is in effect ‘the pool’ from which the people smugglers can easily find those who reject life in the EU and choose to make the dangerous crossing to the UK. The analysis shows how this pool has been increasing rapidly again, with the EU still apparently unable to secure its borders.

Record numbers of illegal migrants are being detected in the EU

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Amongst the findings of this study :-

Nearly 10m illegal migrants have been detected in the last 12 years for which data is available
Almost 1.3m new illegal migrants were detected last year alone
This represents a doubling of the annual rate in just five years
Seven EU countries detected over 0.5m illegal migrants in their territories

The five-year trend

Total no. of illegal migrants per annum detected by EU27 countries,
five years from 2019 – 2023

2019 : 627,900
2020 : 557,455
2021 : 679,730
2022 : 1,120,380
2023 : 1,265,350

[Source: EU Commission data collected from EU member country governments,
accessed and analysed by Facts4EU.Org from 12-16 Jul 2024.]

The impact on the United Kingdom

The illegal migrants entering the United Kingdom by boat all come from the safe countries of the EU, which they should not have been able to enter the bloc. As the British people now know, increasing numbers of these illegal migrants have been crossing the English Channel in small boats each year, escorted by the French Navy.

It is therefore reasonable to look at how many illegal migrants have been able to enter the European Union, as this is effectively ‘the pool’ from which the people smuggling gangs find their customers.

Ask any group of the EU’s illegal migrants their preferred final destination and the two most common answers are Germany and the United Kingdom.

The differences between illegal and legal immigration

We note that some commentators have been keen to point out that the number of legal migrants entering the UK is much higher than the number of illegal migrants. This is true, but it ignores some important differences.

Illegal migrants are predominantly young men
We don’t know who they are, because they throw their ID papers and mobile phones into the sea
Conversely legal migrants are all documented
There is no way of knowing if these illegal migrants have criminal records or are involved in terrorism
Illegal migrants are immediately given a new I-Phone, housed, receive free medical and dental care, and receive taxpayer cash each week

It therefore seems reasonable to be concerned about this particular element of mass immigration.

Is it true that the vast majority of illegal migrants are male? Yes

As part of our study, we looked at the percentage of illegal migrants found in the EU who are male. It is frequently said that the majority are males. Facts4EU.Org interrogated the official data as part of our study and we can confirm this is categorically and overwhelmingly the case.

Last year (2023) 82% of all illegal migrants detected in the EU were male. As with all the information in this report, the information comes from the official records.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Percentage of all illegal migrants detected in the EU who are male

[Source: EU Commission data collected from EU member country governments,
accessed and analysed by Facts4EU.Org from 12-16 Jul 2024.]

The numbers of illegal migrants detected by EU country, 2012-2023

Finally, we looked at the EU countries with the most detections of illegal migrants. Seven countries detected more than 0.5m during the reporting period.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

EU27 countries detecting most illegal migrants, 2012-2023

Germany : 2,150,955
Greece : 1,795,970
Hungary : 1,249,605
France : 1,193,515
Italy : 676,180
Spain : 674,075
Austria : 501,905

[Source: EU Commission data collected from EU member country governments,
accessed and analysed by Facts4EU.Org from 12-16 Jul 2024.]

Observations

With numbers of illegal boat migrants continuing to increase significantly each year, the blame for the UK’s crisis must lie with the EU. All these migrants depart from EU shores (mostly from France) and have travelled through numerous safe EU countries before reaching northern French beaches.

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[ Sources: EU Commission ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 18 Jul 2024

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Reader Comments 6

1. Sparky , Wednesday, July 17, 2024, 19:44:

Of the around 31,000 illegal migrants that have entered the UK in the last year, mainly by boat, roughly one third are from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. These are countries that we (our last Labour Govt) have helped create a mess with our partners in the USA. What was ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and Lavant) retreated into Syria and became ISIS which led to civil war in Syria. We pulled out of Afghanistan because the USA decided to pull out, a decision by Biden which was initially a deal negotiated with the Taliban by Trump. Most of the other countries of source have poor human rights records or are war zones. This crisis will not be resolved by false promises of sending or turning boats back to France, it will only be reduced by arrangements such as with Albania or trying to resolve some of the issues within these countries through the strength of British diplomacy.

2. terence patrick hewett , Thursday, July 18, 2024, 08:44:

For Starmer, the very large heffalump in the room is the Calais Yacht Club: and if he doesn't stop the illegals, it will destroy the Labour Party like it has destroyed the Tory Party. It won't be much longer, before the political re-alignment of the UK is finalised.

3. Gazzablack , Thursday, July 18, 2024, 10:16:

1, sparkless
.
Actually the two largest groups entering the UK are Vietnamese and Afghan.
.(Accounting for 40% between them)
.
The civil war in Syria was caused by the Assad regime's brutal suppression of the "Arab Spring"
It was this and not the US, that facilitated the expansion of ISIS into Syria.
.
The war in Iraq was predicated on a lie, and I consider Blair and Campbell to be war criminals for their part in it.
But the Anglo / French interference in Libya's civil war, leading to the demise of Gaddaffi , that facilitated the movement of migrants from Sub Saharan Africa that has the greatest effect on the influx into Europe.
.
(And I don't need to refer to Wiki to know this, I saw it all play out in real time.)

4. Old Albion , Thursday, July 18, 2024, 21:18:

Sparky (1)
How do you know where all these illegals come from? They destroy their documents on the journey across the English channel.

5. Sparky , Friday, July 19, 2024, 04:41:

Search, Irregular migration to the UK, year ending March 2024, issued by the home office. For countries of origin and ow numbers from Vietnam.

6. LuxuryBalloon , Friday, July 19, 2024, 10:18:

Research from Holland shows that many immigrants come in on a visa and when the visa expires they stay illegally. The UK is an attractive country to ‘work under the radar’ as our black economy is thriving. This attracts illegal immigrants from EU countries to come to the UK. But I like the idea of blaming the EU anyway.

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