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A child in a wheelchair appears to be part a group of migrants who were brought ashore in Dover after crossing the English Channel.

Pictures show men, women and children wearing life jackets and blankets disembarking from a Border Force vessel at the Kent port on Tuesday.

Migrants brought into Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel on Tuesday Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

They are the first arrivals in a week since 206 people made the journey on August 19, according to Home Office figures.

A total of 19,294 people had arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel as of August 26, 2% lower than the same point in 2023 (19,741) and 20% lower than in 2022 (24,153).

It comes a week after the Home Secretary announced the Border Security Command “is gearing up” after the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats topped 19,000 this year so far.

In addition to new beds at immigration removals centres near Oxford and Portsmouth, Ms Cooper will front plans to boost staffing at the National Crime Agency (NCA), the UK-wide body which has around 70 active investigations into people smuggling and trafficking groups.

Conservative shadow home secretary James Cleverly accused new ministers of failing to “get a grip” on cross-Channel migration between France and England’s South Coast over the weekend.

A Labour source said Mr Cleverly’s comments were “laughable” and said their party is “replacing Tory gimmick with real grip”.

Ms Cooper said: “Our new Border Security Command is already gearing up, with new staff being urgently recruited and additional staff already stationed across Europe.”

The unit is designed to draw together work of different intelligence agencies, police, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force.

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