An urgent review has been ordered by the home secretary after two migrant boats arrived on beaches in Kent without being intercepted at sea.

Shabana Mahmood told Border Security Command to carry out the review after vessels came ashore at Samphire Hoe, between Dover and Folkestone, on Tuesday, and near Folkestone on Monday.

Twenty-one people were detained on Tuesday after the arrival at Samphire Hoe.

Five people were also detained on Monday after the uncontrolled landing near Folkestone, the first undetected landing for a year. The Home Office has not said whether more people are being sought.

Migrants crossing the Channel are usually brought to shore by Border Security Command or RNLI boats.

Before Monday, no small boats had been officially recorded as arriving in the UK without an escort since 6 September 2025.

Uncontrolled landings of migrants in the UK, as seen on Monday and Tuesday, are so rare that the incident in 2025 was the only other one recorded since the Home Office began keeping data in 2023.

A government spokesperson said: “Border Security Command officers alongside Kent Police have been responding to an incident in Dover.

“Twenty-one individuals have already been detained under a swift enforcement response.

“There is a thorough investigation ongoing and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

Officials said those who had been detained had been taken to Western Jet Foil for processing.

The uncontrolled arrivals come after Border Security Command suggested they were a thing of the past, because of new surveillance technology and improved resources.

Earlier this year, Reform UK set out a proposal to call in the Royal Navy to help intercept migrants, but it was rejected.

On Tuesday, 154 migrants arrived in three boats, of which one was an uncontrolled landing.

It takes the total of migrants to have arrived in the UK this year to 17,784.

The total so far this year is down 44.7% compared with figures for 22 September 2025, at which point 32,188 migrants had arrived that year.

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