At the end of a frustrating week for the Government in which just two small boat migrants have been returned to France, GB News can reveal that at least 400 others are currently crossing the English Channel.
After nine days of windy weather, preventing migrant crossings, conditions improved overnight.
At first light, people smugglers around the Calais and Dunkirk areas pushed multiple small boats out into the Channel.
GB News has been told that Border Force is braced for a "significant day of migrant activity".
The small boat crisis rumbles on for the Government
|GB NEWS
An Eritrean man who lost a High Court bid to halt his removal was on a flight that left Heathrow for Paris at 6.15am on Friday.
Meanwhile in northern France, hundreds of migrants embarked on the Channel crossing early on Friday morning.
Among them a small child was seen wearing arm bands and a flotation device.
Cabinet minister Peter Kyle suggested the armed forces should remain focused on defence, after Donald Trump signalled during his state visit that military intervention could be used to deal with illegal migration to the UK.
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Migrants departing Gravelines in France in an attempt to cross the Channel
|GB NEWS
Asked about the US president’s claims, the Business Secretary told the BBC: "Well, what he suggested was the military are used, but we have the UK Border Force that is now established and has been reinforced and bolstered and have new powers under this Government.
"The Navy actually does have a working relationship with the UK Border Force, and the Navy can be called upon if needed."
At least one inflatable dinghy full of young men made its way out to sea from Gravelines beach, north-east Calais, at daybreak on Friday.
As the boat came close to shore, people waded through waist-high water towards it and a child was passed aboard before it went out to sea.
A small boat carrying people thought to be migrants near Gravelines in France
|PA
In the town itself, at about 5.30am, a group of 40 young men suddenly appeared from a quiet side street carrying an inflatable boat over their heads before launching it into a canal.
Police officers watched on from the bank as the driver of the boat struggled to keep it in a straight line.
Earlier in the night, a group of men formed a human chain to help haul people out of the mud after a failed attempt to launch a boat in the canal.
People walking along the seafront stopped to look, including an angry British tourist who said he was "never coming back to France."
"Where are the police? They’re doing nothing," he said.