Overview

• Record numbers of migrants have crossed the English Channel in 2025, with 22,360 arrivals overall and 2,378 in the first 12 days of July on pace for over 6,000 this month.
• Smuggling networks are posting on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram to sell crossings for between £900 and £5,000, offering up to 50% discounts to specific nationalities.
• Operators have shifted to ‘taxi boats’—pre-inflated dinghies launched from canals and rivers—to evade French patrols and load migrants offshore.
• Under a new UK-France ‘one in, one out’ pilot, one migrant removed to France will be offset by accepting one who successfully claims asylum there.
• The National Crime Agency has coordinated with social platforms to remove about 22,000 smuggling-related posts and accounts since 2021.