Home Office Introduced Illegal Arrival Offence in 2022 to Deter Small Boat Crossings

The Home Office introduced the offence of illegal arrival in 2022 to deter those coming by small boat or other irregular means such as lorries. The decision was widely condemned at the time because the refugee convention states that those seeking sanctuary should not be criminalised for the way they travel. FoI data obtained by criminologist Dr Victoria Taylor, a research fellow at the University of Manchester, reveals 1,109 people were prosecuted for illegal arrival between July 2022 and January 2026. The data shows 628 arrived on a small boat, 296 of whom were captured on surveillance drone footage steering a dinghy.

Just 12 people have been convicted of the separate offence of facilitation, after steering the dinghies they arrived on. In one illegal arrival case, the Home Office settled a judicial review relating to a trafficking survivor from South Sudan who was forced at gunpoint to pilot a small boat. Officials have now agreed to ensure greater protection for trafficking victims in these cases.