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Small-boat migrants given free hijabs

Story by Charles Hymas • 11h • 3 min read



Migrants have been crowding on to bigger dinghies this summer - Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters

Small-boat migrants have been handed nearly 1,000 free hijabs on arrival under human rights rules requiring the provision of cultural and religious clothing.
Internal government figures show that officials have handed out 974 of the Muslim head coverings to migrants landing in Dover between January and June 2026, a rate of 162 a month.

The Home Office said it was legally required to provide a basic dry clothing pack to small-boat arrivals where needed.
Officials said it was also legally required under “short-term holding facility” rules for asylum seekers to be provided with basic clothing, including cultural and religious clothes where necessary.
The disclosure, first made by the Mail on Sunday, comes after The Telegraph revealed in 2025 that the taxpayer had provided new clothes and shoes to illegal Channel migrants at a cost of £3,000 a day in the previous three years.
They required them because their clothes are often sprayed or soaked through with seawater and “occasionally” splashed with fuel, which poses a health and safety risk, the Home Office said.
However, Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, said: “The Government must stop handing out hijabs to illegal immigrants immediately. 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.

“Many illegal immigrants actually hate our values. Many come here for free accommodation and a life on benefits at our expense.
“Illegal immigrants crossing the channel are breaking into our country. They have no legitimate reason to flee France, which is clearly safe.
“That’s why we must leave the European Convention on Human Rights so we can deport all illegal immigrants immediately upon arrival.”
A freedom of information request by The Telegraph showed that men, women and children arriving at Dover have been handed free clothes including puffer coats, hats and gloves in winter at a cost of nearly £4m since 2021.
They are kept quayside in a storehouse said by one former official to be as big as a Matalan or M&S, with changing rooms. The Home Office had to have thousands of different sizes and shapes in stock to replace all the migrants’ clothing.

The fact that three-quarters of the migrants are men is reflected in the clothing statistics: 10,694 male clothing packs were handed over, including 22 in XXXL size.
Just 2,670 packs were given to women, 773 to boys and 829 to girls. The list also includes 572 beanie hats and 350 babygrows.
More than 19,000 small-boat migrants have arrived so far this year, down by 42 per cent compared with the same period in 2025.
However, the numbers travelling on each vessel have increased, with an average of 67 migrants packing dangerously on to every boat.
A Home Office spokesman said: “We are legally required to provide a basic dry clothing pack to small-boat arrivals where needed. We have made progress tackling the small boats. Crossings are down significantly, and we have just recorded the lowest number of summer arrivals since 2020.
“We are taking action, with joint efforts preventing over 48,000 crossing attempts and seizing 1,100 boats and engines since the election.”

Small-boat migrants given free hijabs