Immigration has been dominating news headlines in the UK, due to rising numbers of migrants arriving in Kent and reports of overcrowding and disease at a facility where asylum seekers are held. The home secretary Suella Braverman has been under fire over conditions at Manston migrant processing centre, with claims that a “backlog” of asylum cases has left thousands of people detained for long periods. Ferret Fact Service looked at the current situation with migration to the UK, and considered the evidence for what’s causing the situation at processing centres. What is the current situation? The recent controversy developed after conditions at Manston migrant processing centre were revealed in late October. The centre opened in early 2022 to assist in processing those who arrived after crossing the English Channel in small boats. Migrants are only meant to stay at the centre for 24 hours until they have undergone some safety checks and then moved into the asylum system. The site’s capacity was meant to be 1,600 people. Reports of overcrowding first emerged in July. On 24 October, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, David Neal, told MPs there were 2,800 migrants at the centre. On 31 October, Conservative MP Roger Gale said there were more than 4,000 at the site. Numbers began to fall last week as people were moved out of the centre, and on 7 November, immigration minister Robert Jenrick told MPs that the number had been reduced to below 1,600. Home secretary Suella Braverman has been criticised for her approach to the crisis, and was accused of failing to put in place measures to ease the overcrowding, which she denied. Have small boat crossings increased? Data on the number of people crossing the English channel in small boats is recorded daily, weekly, monthly and yearly, by the ministry of defence (MoD) and home office. The daily and weekly statistics are less robust than the annual data, but give a picture of the numbers of people crossing the channel. From January 2022 up until the end of October 2022 about 40,000 people had crossed the channel in small boats. This is the highest number recorded. In 2021 the total was 28,526 people, and in 2020 there were 8,000. About 94 per cent of those who arrive on small boats claim asylum in the UK. There has been a reduction in irregular migration being detected through other methods, such as those travelling in lorries or shipping containers through ports. Those discovered to have entered the UK through a port reduced from 1,052 in 2018 to 147 in the first half of 2022. Is this illegal immigration? So-called ‘illegal’ immigration is actually quite ill-defined, and most government bodies and charities use the term irregular migration to describe those who come to the UK or stay in the UK without official prior permission. There are four often-cited ways in which someone could be an irregular migrant. Coming to the UK through a recognised route then breaching the conditions of entry or stay, such as by overstaying a visa or doing work that is not permitted. Entering the UK via a non-recognised route or by using false documents Staying in the UK after all routes of asylum have been rejected and appeals exhausted Being born in the UK to an irregular migrant. There is no such thing as an illegal asylum seeker, however. Under international law, refugees can apply for asylum in any country which is signed up to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which includes the UK. They do not have to travel to the UK via recognised official routes to do so. It is possible for certain people seeking asylum to apply from outside the UK, through various schemes such as refugee resettlement programmes, family reunion visas, and some specific immigration routes for certain countries, such as the Ukraine visa sponsorship scheme and the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme. However the majority of asylum applications come from people who can...