Home Secretary hits out at 'unacceptable' migrant landings in Kent

The Home Secretary has said migrant landings on UK beaches are "not acceptable", as she ordered an urgent review after two boats reached Kent without being intercepted.

Shabana Mahmood told Border Security Command to carry out the review after vessels came ashore at Samphire Hoe, between Dover and Folkestone, on Tuesday, and near Folkestone on Monday.

Twenty-one people were detained on Tuesday after the arrival at Samphire Hoe.

Five people were also detained on Monday after the uncontrolled landing near Folkestone, the first undetected landing for a year. The Home Office has not said whether more people are being sought.

Migrants crossing the Channel are usually brought to shore by Border Security Command or RNLI boats.

Before Monday, no small boats had been officially recorded as arriving in the UK without an escort since 6 September 2025.

Uncontrolled landings of migrants in the UK, as seen on Monday and Tuesday, are so rare that the incident in 2025 was the only other one recorded since the Home Office began keeping data in 2023.

Mahmood said the beach landings were "not acceptable".

She said: "Our improved monitoring has led to uncontrolled crossings becoming incredibly rare, but even one is one too many.

"That is why I have ordered an urgent review by the Border Security Command into how this happened, and what must be done to ensure it doesn't happen again."

She said that new tactics adopted by people smugglers, including launching small boats from much further west in France, were "a reminder of two things".

The home secretary said: "Firstly, these gangs have no regard for human life. They are putting people on increasingly long and dangerous crossings.

"Secondly, our efforts are having an impact. We are making it much harder for gangs to launch vessels, forcing them to change their approach, and as a result we are significantly reducing the numbers coming here by small boat."

Early on Wednesday, migrants were brought to Dover after embarking on a crossing from a village near Bayeux in Normandy to Gosport in Hampshire, spending more than 33 hours at sea .

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Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, called it "a day of despair" for the Labour government.

He said: "Our border security has descended into chaos with illegal immigrants crossing at will over ever larger distances and in ever larger boats."

Philp said: "This latest fiasco shows that the French are not even trying to stop the illegal immigrants' boats in French waters, instead they are escorting them here."

"What's more, there have been two uncontrolled migrant landings in a week. It is a complete free for all – the Labour government have no idea who is coming into the country.

"The only way to stop Channel crossings is to deport anyone who arrives illegally to their home country or a safe third country. That's the only way we can end this madness."

Earlier, a government spokesperson said: "Border Security Command officers alongside Kent Police have been responding to an incident in Dover.

"Twenty-one individuals have already been detained under a swift enforcement response.

"There is a thorough investigation ongoing and it would be inappropriate to comment further."

Officials said those who had been detained had been taken to Western Jet Foil for processing.

The uncontrolled arrivals come after Border Security Command suggested they were a thing of the past, because of new surveillance technology and improved resources.

Earlier this year, Reform UK set out a proposal to call in the Royal Navy to help intercept migrants , but it was rejected.

On Tuesday, 154 migrants arrived in three boats, of which one was an uncontrolled landing.

It takes the total of migrants to have arrived in the UK this year to 17,784.

The total so far this year is down 44.7% compared with figures for 22 September 2025, at which point 32,188 migrants had arrived that year.

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