Overview

• More than 25,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel so far in 2025, reaching the milestone earlier than any year since recordings began in 2018 and marking a 51% rise over last year.
• Nearly 900 migrants were detected in a single day across 13 small boats, bringing the total to 25,436 and underlining the rapid acceleration in crossings.
• Border Force vessels have been stretched to capacity and have called on RNLI lifeboats from Dover, Ramsgate, Walmer and Dungeness to assist with rescue and escort operations.
• The UK and French governments will launch a pilot one-in, one-out returns scheme in August, aiming to send back roughly 50 Channel arrivals each week in exchange for safe-route entries.
• The National Crime Agency seized 25 inflatable boats at Bulgaria’s Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint in its largest small-boat detection of 2025, targeting the supply chains of people-smuggling networks.