Priti Patel announces harsher sentences for migrants in bid to deter Channel crossings Celine Wadhera © PA
Last year, at least 8,417 people made the journey across the English Channel in small boats - PA
The home secretary has announced that migrants seeking to cross the English Channel on small boats, and the people-smugglers enabling them, are to face more severe prison sentence in a bid to deter illegal crossings.
The move is part of the Nationality and Borders Bill, and is intended to fix the UK’s “broken asylum system” Priti Patel said.
The proposed legislation, which will receive its first reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday, will make it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK without permission. Doing so, if the proposed legislation is approved, will carry a maximum prison sentence of four years, up from six months.
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Migrants who cross the Channel in small boats face arrest
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