A newborn baby was saved by the RNLI after a nine-hour journey across the English Channel today.
Video footage shows a lifeboat reaching the shore of Dungeness, Kent, before a rescuer carries the infant and hands her to a police officer.
The girl, named Ayyan, is thought to be between two weeks and a month old.
She made the same perilous journey from France as her mother, who was so weary she was struggling to speak.
But a man on the boat who spoke English translated for her, saying she was prepared to risk her safety and that of her child for ‘the best life’ in the UK.
He told how French police officers watched them leave their shores and didn’t try to stop them.
While record numbers of migrants have crossed the Channel this summer, figures over the past three years show only a small portion are arriving in small boats, according to Sky News.
After Ayyan and her mother arrive, the channel’s crew witnessed another boat carrying between 15 and 20 migrants arrive later today.
It comes after the UK signed a £54million deal with France in July for them to step up their patrols in a bid to prevent migrants reaching Britain.
At the Conservative Party conference, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: ‘France is a safe country, one not riven by war or conflict.
‘There is no reason why any asylum seeker should come to the United Kingdom directly from France.’
‘We make no apology for securing our borders and exploring all possible options to save lives by ending these horrific journeys.’
Last month the UN Refugee Agency claimed Patel’s new plans for Britain’s asylum system would be in violation of international law.
The Nationality and Borders Bill, aims to deter people from entering the UK illegally, by creating a ‘lower class of status’ for asylum seekers who arrive ‘spontaneously’.
The Bill, issued in July, is currently being read by Parliament and, if passed, would make it a criminal offence to arrive in the UK as an asylum seeker without prior permission.
But as previously reported by Metro.co.uk, people are often forced to flee their countries without proper documentation or knowledge of the proper channels.
Campaigners say denying family re-union rights to people who have crossed the channel illegally will only put more people in danger and keep more families apart.
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