Charity hands migrants thousands of free SIM cards with six months data, Ramadan food packs and haircuts

Published: 12:37, 10 August 2026 | Updated: 12:42, 10 August 2026 A charity has handed thousands of SIM cards and Ramadan food packs to small boat migrants who enter Britain illegally. Care4Calais distributed the freebies with the help of hundreds of volunteers over its 2024-25 financial year. According to its annual report, asylum seekers were also offered English language support, befriending services, haircuts and picnics. A total of 162,334 items were distributed including 2,500 SIM cards with six months of free data, received in 'partnership with Vodafone'. Handouts also included 1,173 Ramadan food packs, 3,765 hoodies, 3,532 pairs of joggers and 1,174 t-shirts. The charity ran 80 'drop-in sessions' and 17 large-scale handout sessions at British military bases housing asylum seekers. A spokesman said: 'During this reporting year, Care4Calais' Direct Aid groups in the UK have continued to offer an incredible range of support, clothing, and activities to people seeking safety across the UK.  'They achieved this against a consistently challenging backdrop of new government legislation, systems which marginalise people seeking safety, increasing use of large-scale accommodation sites, and rising hostility towards refugees. Migrants at Calais are seen carrying charity bags containing Iftar meals for Ramadan A 17-year-old Sudanese teenager called Abdul proudly opened his bag to show off the food for a photo Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. 'Despite these pressures, our volunteer-led model continued to provide consistent, compassionate, and responsive support.' Care4Calais describes itself as a volunteer-run charity working with refugees in the UK, France and Belgium. The organisation has a 'revolving' team of over 1,000 volunteers in France and a more permanent team of some 1,100 volunteers in the UK, including trustees. A spokesman said over the financial year up to September 2025, it maintained support at hotels and large-scale sites including Napier Barracks (until its closure in December 2025) and the former RAF Wethersfield in Essex. Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, told the Daily Mail 'open-borders charities' had done 'nothing to stop these illegal Channel crossings from happening and have been making this dangerous journey more attractive for years'. He added: 'The only way we can stop the crossings is with a proper deterrent. 'If people know they can stay in the UK, get put up in a hotel and claim benefits then they will keep coming. If they know they will be quickly removed, then they will not cross in the first place. We must end the incentive. 'That's why the Conservative BORDERS plan leaves the ECHR, so we can deport all illegal immigrants rapidly on arrival; and that's why we will stop non-citizens claiming benefits, to cut that incentive.' The migrant mega-dinghy - pictured in Dover today - with 230 people aboard reached Britain overnight Yesterday French police did nothing more than watch as a baby and toddlers were carried aboard a dinghy to England In March, hundreds of asylum seekers were pictured queueing for food packs in the Holy Islamic month of Ramadan near the main hospital of the French port of Calais. The packs contained tinned fish, bread, nuts, biscuits and boiled eggs. The charity stated: 'Muslims across the world are observing Ramadan with loved ones. But for refugees, far from home and family, living in appalling conditions in Calais, Ramadan can be a difficult and lonely time.' It added it was proud of its distribution of the special food for people religiously fasting, saying: 'They are the difference between people being able to observe Ramadan with dignity or not.' The charity said each food pack cost £6.90. 'Will you chip in and help refugees observe Ramadan in brutal conditions by buying a pack for them?' it added on its website. Last night a migrant mega-dinghy with 230 people aboard was reported to have reached Britain overnight – smashing the previous record for the largest number of asylum seekers in a single dinghy. The 230 arrivals are yet to be officially confirmed by the Home Office but if the unofficial count is accurate it would be more than the typical capacity of a Boeing 737 jet. People traffickers are currently thought to charge around £2,000 per head for illegal passage to Britain – meaning this single dinghy could have made them a £450,000 profit. Their new mega dinghies are floating deathtraps and, at 42ft, are longer than a double-decker bus. Last week officials confirmed traffickers are adapting their methods in a bid to circumvent Labour's 'smash the gangs' strategy. On Sunday French police looked on as a baby and toddlers were carried aboard a dinghy to England. Dozens of migrants clambered aboard the boat in the waves off Camiers beach, south of Boulogne. The youngest hauled aboard was a baby who appeared to be just months old. There were a number of other young children and women, too, alongside mostly young men. Enhanced policing designed to block the traffickers – such as by seizing boats and outboard motors – has seen gangs 'experiment' with using mega dinghies on the Channel, they said. They are also deploying co-ordinated dinghy launches from a wider area of the French and Belgian coast in a bid to evade detection. But despite a 43 per cent reduction in the number of migrants reaching Britain year-on-year, there is still the same level of demand for illegal crossings in migrant camps in northern France, it is understood. Officials believe smugglers' use of the extra-large vessels – which are longer than a double-decker bus – increases the risk of a mass tragedy. Care4Calais has been contacted for comment.