People traffickers are telling migrants they have to make the dash across before Britain leaves the EU in March, and are whacking even higher prices on the perilous journeys.
Pascal Marconville, the state prosecutor in Boulogne-sur-Mer near Calais, has said they had been increasing their fees up to 30 per cent with a Brexit surcharge on migrants.
Lieutenant Ingrid Parrot, from the French maritime law enforcement agency, said: “It’s not an increase [in attempted channel crossings] that we are seeing, it’s an explosion.
"We have the impression that migrants are afraid that the border will be completely closed after Brexit and they will not be able to cross at all."
Officials think smugglers are telling them they have to get there before March or they will face a clampdown from border controls.
If Theresa May secures a deal with the EU in the coming days, then Britain will enter a transition phase where we will effectively stay a part of the EU for at least another two years.
Only after that will the UK set up its own immigration system, with a promised bill coming to MPs in the House of Commons in the next few weeks.
But if we don't get a deal, then Britain could leave with nothing in place.
This morning eight suspected migrants were picked up from a dinghy off the coast of Kent.
Yesterday more were rescued in the early hours of the morning.
More security and searches have been stepped up to deal with the hike, the Home Office confirmed.
And last week seven migrants were found washed up in a rubber dingy near Dover too.
The boat they travelled in, which later deflated, was only capable of 5mph and it's thought it had taken over seven hours to cross the Channel.
78 people have been rescued from small boats since November 9, the Home Office said.
Charlie Elphicke, Tory MP for Dover, said: “The Home Office need to urgently step up efforts with the French to catch the crooks responsible. Lives will be lost if this trafficking network is not stopped in its tracks.”
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