LONDON: On a bright July morning, shortly after sunrise, a group of young men and a few families gathered on a beach in northern France.
Within minutes, a large black inflatable dinghy moved toward the coast and the men sprinted across the sand and into the waves.
Two French policemen on the shore offered no resistance as the migrants rushed to get a place on the packed vessel that they hoped would take them across the English Channel and to a new life in the UK.
This scene, captured by ABC News, has played out repeatedly since 2018, when people smugglers started to use rubber dinghies to send migrants on the treacherous journey from France to England.
Small boat crossings are on track to reach their highest numbers this year, an increase that coincides with a summer when anti-immigration sentiment reached fever pitch in the UK.
