Migration Expert Reveals How Brexit Has Made The Small Boats Crisis Worse

Record numbers of asylum seekers have arrived by small boat this year.A migration expert has revealed how Brexit is making the small boats crisis worse.Record numbers of asylum seekers have crossed the English Channel from France in 2025 – with more than 1,000 arriving on Saturday alone.Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has insisted that only his party has a plan to detain and deport every immigrant who arrives in Britain illegally.However, Peter Walsh, Oxford Migration Observatory, said leaving the European Union – which Farage campaigned for – has played a major role in creating the problem.He told Radio 4′s Today programme there is “increasing evidence of a Brexit effect” exacerbating the problem, because it makes it harder for the UK to return the migrants to Europe.Walsh said: “We speak with asylum seekers now and often they’ve claimed asylum in an EU country, sometimes been refused, but they understand that because the UK is no longer part of the EU and no longer party to the EU’s fingerprint database for asylum seekers, if they can get to the UK, they have another bite at the cherry and another chance to secure asylum status and remain in Europe.”He said that before Brexit, anyone arriving by an illegal route who had already been refused asylum in another EU country could be quickly identified by the UK authorities and deported.He said: “As it is, people arrive and we don’t know who they are. Even if we did, we wouldn’t be able to return them because we’re no longer party to that system that allowed the transfer of asylum seekers back to countries of first entry.”His comments echo those of Franch president Emmanuel Macron, who said in July that British voters had been “sold a lie” about taking back control of the country’s borders after Brexit.He said: “Since Brexit, and I’m saying all this quite honestly but many people in your country explained that Brexit would make it possible to fight more effectively against illegal immigration, but since Brexit the UK has no migratory agreement with the EU.”Related...How Keir Starmer's 'Growth And Boats' Reshuffle Could Create Even More Problems For The PMLBC Presenter Fact Checks Nigel Farage's Claim Small Boats Have Made UK More Dangerous For Women And GirlsEmmanuel Macron Blames Brexiteers For Small Boats Crisis After Striking Migrant Deal With Starmer

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