More than 100 migrants arrived in Dover yesterday as people-smuggling gangs took advantage of the heatwave and calm sea conditions in the English Channel. Nearly 1,000 migrants crossed the Channel in 13 boats between May 23 and May 29, with 128 people arriving on Friday alone.
Record temperatures fuel crossings
Crossings have continued throughout the past week as temperatures climbed sharply during the latter part of May. On arrival in Dover, migrants were seen walking around the docks while Border Force officials assisted the new arrivals and began processing procedures. Border Force vessels escorted the migrants into Dover Docks in Kent before helping them ashore.
The favourable conditions over the bank holiday weekend are understood to have provided one of the best opportunities for crossings in recent weeks. Temperatures reached record highs for May in both England and Wales on Tuesday, according to the Met Office. Kew Gardens in London provisionally recorded 35.1C, while Cardiff's Bute Park reached 32.9C.
AI age checks planned
This comes after the Home Office is pressing ahead with plans to introduce an AI-powered facial recognition system designed to identify adult migrants falsely claiming to be children, despite criticism from human rights campaigners. A £322,000 contract has been awarded to Essex-based Akhter Computers to develop technology capable of estimating a person's age from photographs taken at the border.
Ministers say the system will help prevent adults from entering the care system by making false age claims, protecting support services intended for vulnerable children. The technology has undergone initial testing and will be trialled at Dover's Western Jet Foil processing centre before a planned rollout in 2027.
The move comes amid rising asylum claims and concerns about the accuracy of existing age-assessment methods. Official figures show that more than 6,400 migrants claiming to be children underwent age assessments in the year to March 2026, with almost half ultimately found to be adults.
Opposition to online language tests
This also comes in light of the news that nearly seven in ten voters oppose Labour's plans to replace in-person English language tests for migrants with online exams, according to a new YouGov poll. The survey found that 68 per cent of respondents opposed the move, including a significant proportion of Labour voters, while only 22 per cent supported it.
The Home Office is seeking a supplier for a new £816 million Home Office English Language Test (HOELT), which would replace the current system of supervised exams with a digital-first model. Critics have warned that remote testing could be more vulnerable to cheating and weaken immigration controls.
Migrants charged and jailed
The arrivals came as three migrants were charged with endangering lives during Channel crossings over the weekend, while a further three were jailed after being convicted of entering the UK without valid entry clearance. Turkish national Osman Yesil, 47, and Algerian national Tawfiq Boubazine, 33, both arrived in the UK on Friday May 22 and pleaded guilty at their first appearances before Folkestone Magistrates' Court the following Monday. The Crown Prosecution Service said both men were sentenced to eight months in prison.
Albanian national Elidjon Cota, 29, also pleaded guilty to the same offence after arriving in the UK on Saturday. He was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Sudanese nationals Jiechlat Buom, 25, and Kueth Gatkuoth, 31, were charged with endangering the lives of others during a Channel crossing after arriving in the UK on Saturday, May 23. They are due to appear before Canterbury Crown Court for a plea hearing on June 29. Iranian national Mehdi Najafi, 42, who is accused of the same offence after arriving on Friday May 22, is scheduled to appear before the same court for a plea hearing on June 22.
