First Small Boat Migrants of 2026 Reach Dover in Sub-Zero Conditions — After Britain Recorded Its Second-Highest Total Ever Last Year

The first small boat migrants to reach Britain in 2026 arrived today in sub-zero temperatures.

UK Border Force catamaran Hurricane arrived at Dover just before 4pm with an unknown number of migrants aboard.

They were thought to number several dozen, but the figure is not due to be officially confirmed by the Home Office until later.

The dinghy’s occupants had earlier been picked up mid-Channel after a lengthy crossing from northern France.

It was the first small boat to reach this country since December 22.

Last year saw 41,472 migrants arrive in total – the second-highest annual number on record.

The yearly total was 13 per cent higher than the figure for 2024, when 36,816 migrants made the journey, and 41 per cent higher than 2023’s total of 29,437.

The first arrivals of 2026 reached Dover today, the first since December 22. Pictured are arrivals on December 17 when a total of 497 people reached British soil

Only 2022 saw a higher annual number of arrivals, when the figure was 45,755.

The Met Office forecast occasional sleet across the Dover Strait and a temperature of 1C, feeling like -3C, in the Kent town amid weather warnings in place across the country.

French officials said two other groups of migrants were earlier returned to France after failed crossing attempts.

It included a group of about 30 people found suffering severe hypothermia off Ecault beach, about six miles south of Boulogne.

The earliest point in the calendar year to record crossings was on January 2 in 2021 and 2023, when 10 and 44 people arrived respectively.

Last year the first arrivals of 61 people were recorded on January 4.

It comes as new powers to seize mobile phones and sim cards from migrants making the journey come into force on Monday, as part of efforts to gather intelligence and crack down on people smugglers.

Officers will be able to take electronic devices from people at Manston processing centre in Kent, without needing to arrest them, and can search someone’s mouth for hidden sim cards.

The Home Office said there is technology ready on site to download data from the phones.

The new powers for law enforcement agencies are hoped to speed up investigations and come after the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act became law in December.

The UK’s Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt, tasked with curbing Channel crossings, said the move marked a ‘key moment’ to go further with extra tools to crack down on smugglers.

But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said it may help ‘at the margins’ but ‘it will not fix the small boats crisis’.