It's impactful because the asylum seekers are visible to everyone in their small boats and because the likes of Farage are drawing attention to them on a daily basis. The numbers are not actually particularly high.
How many asylum seekers are in the UK?
In 2020, the UK received applications for asylum for 37,550 people (including dependants). This is around three times less than the number of applications received each by Germany (124,380), France (103,370) and Spain (108,225).
Around 43 per cent of people seeking asylum in the UK in 2020 were women and children. Overall, eight per cent were children who had arrived in the UK alone without a parent or guardian.
SOURCE: BRITISH RED CROSS
These stats are out of date obviously, but because Home Office processing is so painfully slow, up to date figures are impossible to find.
If we processed asylum claims in France, the criminal trafficking would diminish massively.