More than 20,000 small boat migrants have now crossed the English Channel so far this year, in more grim news for the Prime Minister's efforts to "smash the gangs".
GB News provisional figures for Monday show that 880 Channel migrants arrived in UK waters.
That took the provisional total for the year to 19,983.
Now GB News can confirm the grim milestone figure of 20,000 was crossed at 2am today when another Border Force vessel arrived into Dover harbour with 60 migrants on board.
By 8am, two more Border Force vessels, Defender and Ranger, docked at Dover with another 71 migrants on board.
Another three small boats are currently in the Channel attempting to reach UK waters.
If all make it to UK waters, it will take the number of Channel migrant arrivals for the year to more than 20,250.
That figure is a staggering 50 per cent more than the 13,489 who arrived in the UK at this point last year.
The latest figures will make for miserable reading for the Prime Minister in the week he marks his first year in office.
More than 20,000 migrants have now made the perilous journey
GB NEWS
Next week, he is expected to reveal a new deal with the French, during Emanuel Macron's state visit to the UK.
The deal is expected to pave the way for a partial returns agreement, where the French would take some small boat migrants back, for a UK pledge to take a fixed quota of migrants from elsewhere in France.
The deal has already been branded a gimmick by opposition politicians, who claim it will do nothing to break the model of the people smuggling gangs.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
Migarnt arrivals disembarking in Dover
GB NEWS
"The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.
"That is why this Government has put together a serious plan to take down these networks at every stage."
The milestone makes grim reading for the Prime Minister who is 'trying to smash the gangs'
GB NEWS