A former chief border inspector, John Vine, has warned “many hundreds” of small boat migrants will attempt to cross the English Channel in the coming days.
Speaking to GB News, the ex-Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration said the UK heatwave would make the perilous voyage much easier.
It comes as 83 small-boat migrants arrived in Dover, bringing the day’s total to 162, according to provisional figures from The People's Channel.
Mr Vine said: “I think over the next few days we might see many hundreds of people crossing the channel in this weather.
“The people who've been looking forward to the weather, apart from us, are the people smugglers who have obviously planned these crossings many days ago, knowing that the weather's going to be good.”
He advised “no country should really rely on the weather to dictate whether people cross our borders or not”.
To that end, the former border inspector added: “It shows that enforcement alone is not going to solve this issue.
“Greater enforcement is a good thing. Greater cooperation with the Belgians and the French is obviously important for Border Force and the police services.
“But the problem here is that we're dealing with the symptom and not the problem itself.
“Whilst there are pull factors bringing people to the UK, this trade will continue.
“Unless there's a deterrent to prevent that from happening in some realistic way, then we'll continue to see this trade occurring.
“The amount of planning and organisation and the speed with which organised crime is changing its tactics to avoid detection is remarkable.”
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Mr Vine was speaking as a new small boat migrant route into Britain was discovered, compounding the situation.
Smuggling gangs have moved some operations to Belgium after French authorities took a stricter approach to monitoring the would-be migrants.
Local police also revealed “violent” ex-soldiers from Iraq or Afghanistan were helping facilitate crossings from the new location.
“It's a very serious threat. It's a serious threat on a number of levels,” Mr Vine stressed.
He expected the UK Border Force to be “totally alarmed” by the development.
Mr Vine insisted the Belgian police must take action, but cautioned that it would be a dangerous operation.
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