More than 90 migrants arriving in the UK in small boats have been returned to Europe this year.

The Home Office figures show 725 people have arrived in Kent illegally since January 1.

A spokesman said: "The UK continues to work closely with France and other countries to return more migrants who have entered the UK by small boat in order to provide a strong deterrent against the dangerous crossings.

“Since January, over 90 people who entered the UK illegally on small boats have been returned to Europe.”

But the Home Office has refused to say how many arrived from January to October.

The last known official figure for 2019 goes up to July 22.

From January to then there were 1,150 attempts by individuals to cross the Channel illegally.

About 725 people arrived in the UK and 425 were stopped on the French side of the Channel.

The figures were given on July 22 to the Home Affairs committee by the then Home Secretary Sajid Javid.

There have been repeated cases of migrants landing in places such as Folkestone, Romney Marsh and the Deal area.

Others have been picked up at sea by the Border Force and brought to safety in Dover.

The first confirmed death from a migrant crossing was on August 9 when a woman fell from a small craft off Ramsgate.

Her body was found in Dutch waters 11 days later.

On Tuesday the Britain's National Crime Agency announced that they had arrested four people in connection with this.

One of the latest migrant cases, reported by the French authorities, was last Friday when they stopped two inflatable boats with 13 and 18 people on board.

The occupants got into difficulty and made a distress call.

A search and rescue helicopter located them 10 miles off Gravelines, between Dunkirk and Calais.

One vessel had 11 men, a woman and a teenager while the other had 14 adults and four children.

They were all found to be safe and brought ashore to be handed over to border police.

Details on this case have come from the website of the French maritime authority préfecture maritime de la Manche et de la mer du Nord.

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