Albanian people smugglers mock UK's soft borders on TikTok as they advertise £2,000-a-head cross Channel trips by sharing clip of Jacob Rees Mogg highlighting small boat crisis

By RORY TINGLE, HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT and ISAAC CROWSON Published: 00:01, 13 May 2026 | Updated: 00:12, 13 May 2026 Albanian people smugglers have shared a TikTok video mocking Britain's soft borders as they advertised £2,000-a-head Channel crossings by sharing a clip of Jacob Rees-Mogg. An account calling itself 'Eagles' - after the bird of prey depicted on Albania's flag - has racked up tens of thousands of views with clips mocking Britain's porous borders.  In one video, the former Tory minister is seen telling a TV interviewer that small boat migrants who succeed in crossing the Channel are 'basically going to be here for life'.  He adds that the chance to remain in Britain was the reason 'people are willing to spend thousands of pounds to risk their lives in small boats'. The footage was overlaid with an advertisement for journeys from 'Calais to Dover' for £2,500.   Other clips show Albanian migrants laughing and smiling as they travel to Britain on dinghies, with one video dubbed with audio saying: 'The next station is London Bridge, please mind the gap between the train and the platform.' Another video advertising smuggling via vehicles shows a man with his feet up in a lorry alongside the sound of laughter. The account has now been taken down after the Daily Mail reported it to TikTok. The account quoted Jacob Rees-Mogg as saying that the chance to remain in Britain was the reason 'people are willing to spend thousands of pounds to risk their lives in small boats' Other clips show Albanian migrants laughing and smiling as they travel to Britain on dinghies Robert Bates, Research Director at the Centre for Migration Control said: 'Illegal migrants are openly laughing at Britain's non-existent border controls. The message being conveyed is very clear: we are a soft touch.'  Last week saw the arrival of the 200,000th Channel migrant since the start of the small boat crisis.  Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, said: 'Since the election illegal immigrant numbers crossing the channel are up 45 per cent. People smugglers are now brazenly advertising their services and numbers are set to surge this summer as the weather improves. 'This inept Labour government is only removing less than 5 per cent of illegal channel crossers meaning 95 per cent get to stay - accommodated in cushy hotels are taxpayers expense.' The 200,000 migrants - equivalent to the population of a city the size of Norwich – have arrived since the first small boat was recorded on January 31, 2018. It was declared a 'national emergency' by then home secretary Sajid Javid at the end of that year - even though at that stage just a few hundred had made the journey from the Continent. Another video advertising smuggling via vehicles shows a man with his feet up in a lorry alongside the sound of laughter Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Anger has risen over the large numbers continuing to make the journey despite the Government agreeing to pay France £660 million over three years to help curb the crossings.  Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood agreed to give Emmanuel Macron's government a 'core package' of £500million – spread over the next three years - to continue funding anti-migrant operations by French police. A further £160million will also be handed over to fund new tactics by the French including stopping dinghies once they are already in the water. A previous three-year, £500million deal was agreed in 2023 by then Conservative PM Rishi Sunak and during the lifetime of the agreement more than 84,000 migrants reached Britain. One of Labour's first acts in office was to scrap the previous government's Rwanda asylum deal which was designed to deter crossings and save lives.  The International Organisation for Migration puts the total number of deaths associated with Channel crossings since 2018 at 288, including 148 drownings. Last week, some French police took decisive action and slashed a migrant dinghy on a beach near Calais, but the officers were then reported to a human rights watchdog for doing so. Such direct action is increasingly rare from French police. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. More migrants have arrived under Sir Keir Starmer's tenure as Prime Minister than under any other PM, with 71,932. Sir Keir surpassed the previous high of 65,800 under Boris Johnson in February this year. Last year saw 41,472 migrants reach Britain, the second-highest annual total since the start of the crisis.  TikTok's Community Guidelines do not allow content which displays or promotes human trafficking and smuggling, including facilitating or coordinating human smuggling acts and services. Between October and December 2025, 98.6 per cent of this content was taken down before being reported, the platform claims.  The Home Office has been contacted for comment.  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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