Former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe has donated £1,000 to a local charity rowing crew after mistaking them for "illegal migrants".
The independent MP posted the picture on Instagram and X on Thursday, which showed a boat out at sea.
Lowe quoted the post, saying: "Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW".
"Authorities alerted, and I am urgently chasing," he added. "If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure these individuals are deported."
He added that "Enough is enough".
"Britain needs mass deportations. NOW," Lowe said.
However, on Friday morning, Lowe fell short of issuing any "apologies" about the "false alarm".
The photo of the crew Rupert Lowe posted on social media
"Good news. False alarm!" Lowe posted on Friday.
In reality, the "unknown vessel" was in fact a crew of "charity rowers" from ROW4MND, which prompted Lowe to say "thank goodness".
The crew is made up of Matthew Parker, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone, and Liz Wardley, and they said they had been contacted by the coastguard and asked if they could see a dinghy nearby.
Lowe claimed on social media that he would "donate £1,000 to their charity - raising money for MND (Motor Neurone Disease)."
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Rupert Lowe made the post on his social media
"Keep going, and watch out for any real illegal migrants," he added on his post.
"We received a huge number of urgent complaints from constituents - I make no apologies over being vigilant for my constituents."
Lowe declared that the issue was a "national crisis".
"No mass deportations for the charity rowers, but we definitely need it for the illegal migrants!" he said.
Former Royal Marine and British record holder for rowing across the Atlantic solo, Bates, said it became clear that when the crew was contacted by the coastguard, they were asking about the rowing boat.
"I looked to my right and there was maybe a dozen individuals on the shoreline staring at us," he said.
After satisfying the coastguard the first time, the crew was again contacted.
This time, they were asked if a lifeboat could "check out who we were".
"We found it hilarious (Lowe's post). I've not been mistaken for a migrant before," Bates said.
"The best comment was the one asking where the Royal Navy were when you need them. I'm a former Royal Marine, so the Royal Navy were on the boat."
Bates said people along the coast were "almost like ... vigilante-style".
"They hadn't twigged that we were parallel to the shore for hours and not trying to land," he said.
The crew is currently completing the first of four challenges over four years
The crew set off from Land's End on July 25 and has goals of travelling around America and back to the UK with a target of raising £57million for MND research.
They have raised £107,515 for the charity already.
In a post addressing Lowe's comments, the crew said: "If you're reading this, we're disappointed in your conduct, we're disappointed that you wasted so much of the police and coastguard's time".
However, they said: "We forgive you."