More than 1,100 illegal migrants arrived on British shores in small boats on Sunday, the government said on Monday, as the court began reviewing its controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Some 1,160 people crossed the English Channel from the French coast on 25 ships, the Ministry of Defense reported, adding to 960 on Saturday and bringing the total so far this year to 27,384, a figure almost as high as in 2021 (28,526).

Dangerous crossings by dangerous ships through one of the busiest maritime areas on the planet have increased since departures from the French port of Calais and through the English Channel tunnels were prevented in 2018.

A British court began on Monday to analyze appeals against the government’s controversial plan to deport asylum seekers who arrived illegally to Rwanda, an African country 6,500km from London, regardless of their origin.

Although neither of these deportations took place – the first flight scheduled for June was canceled following a European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) decision – the two candidates to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, pledged to continue this policy.

Despite repeated promises by Britain’s Conservative government, which has made immigration control a priority since Brexit, a recent parliamentary report estimated that the total number of illegal immigrants could reach 60,000 this year.

London has paid millions of euros to France to strengthen surveillance of its beaches and increase measures to tighten the arrival of migrants and refugees.

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