Migrant crossing: Only 'small proportion' of boats can legally be pushed back to France
ONLY a "small proportion" of boats carrying migrants across the Channel could be returned to France legally using "pushback" tactics, a senior Home Office official has said.
Migrants disembark in Kent yesterday
Matthew Rycroft was also unable to tell the Commons Home Affairs Committee yesterday when the new policy to reduce crossings would be put into practice.
Mr Rycroft insisted there was a “legal base” for it in “certain circumstances”.
He said Border Force officials could only use it when it can be “deployed in a safe, legal way”. Migrants arrived via lifeboat in Dungeness, Kent, yesterday.
More than 15,100 have sailed here this year, almost double the 8,417 in 2020.