Asylum seeker, Mariam, vowed to reach the UK ‘no matter what’ (Image: Channel 4)
An asylum seeker from Sudan vows to reach the UK “no matter what” in a new Channel 4 documentary. The woman, Mariam, is followed by the programme makers as part of a group intent on making the perilous journey across the English Channel from northern France.
She tells the documentary: “I am going to get to the UK no matter what, until my last breath.” As she stands on a shore in France, Mariam, who eventually reaches Britain, says: “All that stands between you and your dreams is this sea. It is only 45km.”
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Not Welcome: The Battle to Stop the Boats will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 10pm on Thursday (February 12).
It follows migrants on their journeys to the UK and protesters determined to prevent them from being housed in their communities, including plans to accommodate 6,000 migrants at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire.
The programme airs a day after the Government vowed to fight any legal bids to block the deportation of migrants under its “one in, one out” deal with France.
A court challenge by 16 asylum seekers got underway at the Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday.
Ministers hope the scheme will deter migrants from coming to the UK in small boats across the English Channel – but an intervention by the courts could scupper their plans.
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Mariam looks out across the Channel from France towards the UK (Image: Channel 4)
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood admitted in January that more people have arrived in the UK under the pilot scheme than have been returned.
She said 281 people have been sent back to France and 350 people have come to the UK. No.10 insisted the number of migrants coming and going “will fluctuate”.
More than 65,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister. There were 41,472 crossings in 2025 compared with 36,816 in 2024.
The Government said earlier this month that almost 60,000 illegal migrants and convicted criminals have been removed or deported since the 2024 general election.
Some 43,000 people left voluntarily after being told they were in the UK illegally, according to the Home Office.
Fewer than 1,000 migrants arrived in the UK last month after crossing the Channel. The 993 total is the lowest January figure in five years.
Bad weather, including Storm Chandra, is likely to have been a factor in putting people off attempting the journey.
Crossings resumed at the start of February, with pictures showing migrants disembarking a Border Force boat in Ramsgate, Kent, on February 2.
French authorities rescued 66 small boat migrants after their engine stopped working off the coast of Pas-de-Calais on Tuesday (February 10).
Ms Mahmood told MPs earlier this month that the number of crossings was “unacceptable”, but said there was no “silver bullet” and the problem needs “long-term, careful, painful work” to resolve.