Nigel Farage has sounded the alarm after a record-breaking number of illegal migrants crossed the Channel in a single day this weekend. The Reform UK leader shared a viral video showing what appeared to be mostly men being escorted off a UK Border Force vessel, warning bluntly, “many of them will do us harm.”
Posting on X, Farage slammed the silence surrounding the 600 arrivals, saying “no one” was talking about the scale of the issue. Reform MP Lee Anderson echoed the sentiment, reposting the clip and writing: “Another 600 yesterday. It’s an invasion.”
No one is talking about this but another 600 young men came yesterday. Many of them will do us harm. pic.twitter.com/B87xiFtK6y
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) April 13, 2025
Saturday saw 656 people arrive in 11 small boats, the highest single-day figure so far this year, reported BBC. That brings the total number of Channel crossings in 2025 to 8,064—already topping last year’s record for the same period. It’s a sharp rise from 7,567 in early 2024, 5,946 in 2023, and 6,691 in 2022.
The year-on-year jump is striking, with a 46% increase compared to this time last year and a 65% spike from 2023.
The UK Border Force continues to intercept boats often dangerously overcrowded and barely seaworthy. At least 10 people have died attempting the crossing in 2025 so far. The French coastguard reported that on Saturday alone, they rescued multiple groups at sea, taking 28 to Calais, 19 from another boat, and three to Boulogne-sur-Mer. Some passengers refused help and pressed on with their journey.
The growing numbers come as pressure mounts on the Government to get tougher on people smuggling networks fuelling the crisis. A Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.”
They added, “The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay… we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.”
The Government insists it has a “serious, credible plan” to tackle the issue, which includes tougher enforcement powers, increasing deportations, and cracking down on illegal work that traffickers use to lure migrants onto boats with false promises of jobs.
But with crossings showing no signs of slowing, and numbers now surpassing previous records, Farage’s warning—and the political heat around immigration—is only intensifying.
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