Barefoot tot among ‘several dozen’ migrants seen arriving on Kent coast in freezing temperatures

FIVE young children including a baby with no shoes were among a group of migrants arriving in Kent today amid freezing temperatures. A family were pictured landing in Dover after making the dangerous journey across the Channel. The youngsters were wrapped up in blankets and life jackets as temperatures dropped to 1C this morning. One […]

FIVE young children including a baby with no shoes were among a group of migrants arriving in Kent today amid freezing temperatures.

A family were pictured landing in Dover after making the dangerous journey across the Channel.

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A young child with no shoes or socks arrived at Dover this morning[/caption]

PA:Press Association

The group made the perilous journey across the Channel[/caption]

The youngsters were wrapped up in blankets and life jackets as temperatures dropped to 1C this morning.

One of the kids had no shoes or socks on and was seen being carried ashore by a woman.

Border Force officials picked the migrants up after they departed from France in HMC Vigilant before bring them to shore by rib.

A witness said: “One of the kids didn’t even have any socks on, which I thought considering they had blankets, was the first thing I would have covered up.

“I was freezing just standing there. I can’t even imagine how cold they must have been.”

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Young kids were among the group who arrived today[/caption]

The group are the first to make the perilous journey in a week after 16 were detained last Monday.

The arrivals took November’s total to 757 – far higher than October’s total of 463 despite strong winds and heavy rain.

It comes just weeks after Britain signed a historic deal with France to halt the tide of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats.

Home Secretary Priti Patel won a long-running battle to mount a joint crackdown on people-traffickers.

The £28million deal meant the number of officers guarding a 90-mile stretch of coastline would be doubled.

And they will be backed by cutting-edge surveillance gear, including drones, radar, powerful binoculars and fixed cameras.

But French authorities are said to be refusing to intercept migrant boats once they are in the Channel headed for Britain.

More than 8,000 migrants have crossed the Channel in small boats and dinghies to enter Britain this year.

This is far higher than the 1,850 who crossed the Channel throughout 2019.

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A Border Force official walks with a young migrant wearing Minnie Mouse boots[/caption]

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The group were the first to make the journey in a week[/caption]

PA:Press Association

It comes despite a historic deal being signed by France and Britain[/caption]

PA:Press Association

More than 750 migrants crossed the Channel last month[/caption]