Over 1,000 Hijabs Handed to Channel Migrants This Year, Total Heading for 1,500
October 5, 2026 · Frisian News
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Home Office documents show 974 hijabs were given to small-boat arrivals between January and June 2026, at a rate of 162 a month. The total has passed 1,000 and is on track for 1,500 by year's end, contradicting ministers' claims that irregular-entry costs are under control.
Between January and June this year, Home Office documents show, officials handed 974 hijabs to migrants who crossed the Channel illegally, at a rate of 162 per month. The total has since passed 1,000. At the current pace, internal government figures reviewed by The Mail on Sunday show it is likely to be close to 1,500 by now.
The government's explanation is that it has a legal duty, under the Short-term Holding Facility Rules first written by the Conservative government in 2018 and last revised under Rishi Sunak, to supply basic clothing including cultural and religious items. A Home Office spokesman told The Mail on Sunday: "All arrivals receive a basic dry clothing pack where required. The items available form part of standard welfare arrangements."
The wider clothing figures put the hijab count in context. Home Office procurement data reviewed by The Mail on Sunday show 15,406 packs distributed in total: 10,694 for men, just 2,670 for women, 773 for boys and 829 for girls. The list also includes 572 beanie hats and 350 babygrows. The lopsided sex split reflects what the government's own statistics confirm: the majority of small-boat arrivals are male.
More than 19,000 small-boat crossings have been attempted so far this year, The Mail on Sunday reports, down 42 per cent on the same period in 2025. Oxford University's Migration Observatory puts the broader trend at roughly 36,000 arrivals by small boat in the year to May 2026, 13 per cent below the same window a year earlier. There were 41,000 in full-year 2025, more than any year except 2022's 45,000.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp was direct. "The Government must stop handing out hijabs to illegal immigrants immediately," he told The Mail on Sunday. "It's an insult to hard-working British taxpayers that they're funding religious items for people who have broken into our country. It should not be for us to fund someone else's religious practices." Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott added that she did not believe "the state should be party to an instrument of female suppression."
The timing sharpened the political edge. On the Friday before publication, two Iranian nationals who had arrived in Britain on small boats were charged with planning a terrorist attack targeting Manchester's Jewish community during Yom Kippur, The Mail on Sunday reported. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has argued that Brexit weakened Britain's ability to stop the crossings because the country can no longer achieve "the same levels of collaboration" it had before.
The legal framing the Home Office offers is not without a certain irony. The rules it cites were drawn up and amended by the same Conservative politicians who now call the expenditure an insult to taxpayers. What has changed is the scale. At 162 hijabs a month, the annual total will sit near 1,500 even if crossings slow further. The government can point to a statute. It cannot point to a debate that was ever held in public about whether that statute should cover this item.
The number is 1,500, headed there without a vote.
FryskTusken jannewaris en juny dit jier, sa litte dokuminten fan it Home Office sjen, dielten amtners 974 hijabs út oan migranten dy't it Kanaal op yllegale wize oerstutsen, mei in taryf fan 162 yn de moanne. It totaal is sûntdien boppe de 1.000 kommen. By it hjoeddeiske tempo litte ynterne regearingssifers dy't troch The Mail on Sunday besjoen waarden sjen dat it wierskynlik ticht by 1.500 wêze sil op dit stuit.
De útlis fan de regearing is dat sy in juridyske plicht hat, ûnder de Short-term Holding Facility Rules dy't earst opsteld waarden troch de Konservative regearing yn 2018 en lêst wizige ûnder Rishi Sunak, om basisklaaiing te leverjen ynklusyf kulturele en religieuze items. In wurdfierder fan it Home Office fertelde The Mail on Sunday: "Alle oankommen persoanen krije in basis drûch klaaiingspak dêr't nedich. De beskikbere items meitsje diel út fan standert wolwêzensfoarsjennings."
De bredere klaaiingsifers sette it hijabsifer yn kontekst. Oankeapgegevens fan it Home Office dy't troch The Mail on Sunday besjoen waarden litte sjen dat yn totaal 15.406 pakken útdield binne: 10.694 foar manlju, mar 2.670 foar froulju, 773 foar jonges en 829 foar famkes. De list befettet ek 572 mûtsen en 350 babypakkes. De skeeve ferdieling tusken manlju en froulju wjerspegelet wat de eigen statistiken fan de regearing befêstigje: de mearderheid fan de oankommen persoanen mei lytse boaten binne manlju.
Mear as 19.000 oerstekken mei lytse boaten binne dit jier oant no ta besocht, meldt The Mail on Sunday, 42 prosint leger as deselde perioade yn 2025. It Migration Observatory fan de Universiteit fan Oxford stelt de bredere trend op sa'n 36.000 oankommen persoanen mei lytse boat yn it jier oant maaie 2026, 13 prosint leger as itselde ramt in jier earder. Der wienen 41.000 yn it folsleine jier 2025, mear as yn elk oar jier útsein 45.000 yn 2022.
Skaadminister fan Binnenlânske Saken Chris Philp wie direktút. "De regearing moat fuortendaliks ophâlde mei it útdielen fan hijabs oan yllegale ymmigranten," fertelde hy The Mail on Sunday. "It is in belediging foar de hurdwurkjende Britske belestingbetellers dat sy religieuze items finansiere foar minsken dy't ús lân ynbrutsen binne. Wy hearre net de religieuze praktyken fan oaren te finansieren." Skaadminister fan Underwiis Laura Trott foege dêr oan ta dat sy net leaude "dat de steat partij wêze moat by in ynstrumint fan frouljusûnderdrukking."
It tydstip skerpe de politike kant. Op de freed foar publikaasje waarden twa Iraanske nasjonalen dy't yn Brittanje oankommen wienen mei lytse boaten oanklage foar it plannen fan in terroristyske oanslach rjochte op de Joadske mienskip yn Manchester tidens Jom Kipoer, sa rapportearre The Mail on Sunday. Premier Andy Burnham hat betoge dat Brexit it fermogen fan Brittanje om de oerstekken tsjin te gean ferswakke hat, om't it lân net langer "deselde nivo's fan gearwurking" berikke kin as dêrfoar.
De juridyske ynkadering dy't it Home Office oanbiedt is net sûnder in beskate irony. De regels dêr't it nei ferwyst waarden opsteld en wizige troch deselde Konservative politisy dy't de útjeften no in belediging foar belestingbetellers neame. Wat feroare is, is de omfang. By 162 hijabs yn de moanne sil it jierliks totaal ticht by 1.500 lizze, sels as de oerstekken fierder ôfnimme. De regearing kin nei in wet wize. Sy kin net nei in diskusje wize dy't oait yn it iepenbier fierd is oer de fraach oft dy wet dit item dekte hearre moast.
It sifer is 1.500, dêr op wei sûnder in stimming.
Published October 5, 2026 · Frisian News