Britain’s security services are monitoring migrants who have crossed in small boats “every day” amid fears they are a national security threat.
Former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said the Government must treat the Channel crisis as an “emergency”.
Mr Jenrick said a “significant minority have criminal pasts or are intent on criminal futures”.
He said: “I really do think that we have to view this as a national security emergency because we know little, if anything, about these people who are breaking into our country on small boats.
“What we’ve learned is that there is a very significant link between some of them, and serious organized crime. If you look at the Albanians who are coming across, a very strong link, for example, with the drug trade in the UK.
“I can tell you that some of the issues are even more serious than that, and that there are individuals who come across on small boats who are being monitored by our security services every day because they’re deemed to be a risk to our security and would actually do real harm to British citizens.
