More migrants begin legal bid to stop Rwanda deportation

More than 20,000 migrants have attempted to reach the UK this year by crossing the Channel from France - which is up 68 per cent from last year. 

So far more than 11,650 people have reached the UK on small boats this year, which is double the number who had reached Britain this time last year.

France’s interior ministry announced this week that the number of migrants seeking to cross the Channel from France to England rose 68 percent in the first half of 2022.

From January 1 to June 13, there were 777 attempted crossings involving 20,132 people, with the department claiming that French security forces had prevented most of the crossings.

More than 300 people made it to England by crossing the Channel this weekend – making it the busiest for crossings since April. 

It comes as seven more migrants who are facing removal to Rwanda are bringing new challenges in the High Court.

The first deportation flight to Rwanda was blocked just minutes before it was meant to take off by European Judges last week.

Other migrants said that they felt like they were being sent for 'execution' before the ECHR's extraordinary late-night intervention.

The government announced on Friday that  refugees who arrive over the English Channel in small boats could be electronically tagged.