Rylan Clark hit out at undocumented migrants entering Britain during an impassioned speech on This Morning which he accepted was ‘going to upset someone’.
The ITV presenter praised immigrant doctors and nurses for saving his mother Linda’s life in hospital, saying they were paying taxes and ‘helping this country thrive’.
But Clark claimed there was ‘something wrong’ about those crossing the English Channel in small boats being ‘welcomed’ and given medical help, a hotel and food.
The 36-year-old also spoke about the ‘amount of people that are in this country that we have no idea who they are, what they’ve done, what they’re capable of’.
And Clark contrasted the situation with the amount of homeless people and veterans living on the UK’s streets, adding: ‘Something major needs to be done about this.’
His comments divided viewers online, and Clark later posted a defensive statement on social media saying he could be ‘pro-immigration and against illegal routes’.
The presenter had been hosting yesterday’s show with Josie Gibson and they were discussing the news headlines with guests Camilla Tominey and Tim Campbell.
Rylan said: ‘Taking politics out of this, let’s just look at the country. This country is built on immigration, legal immigration. A lot of the nurses, the doctors that have saved my mum’s life have come over here from other countries, are living a great life, they’re paying into this tax system, they’re helping this country thrive.
‘I find it absolutely insane that all these people, 1) are risking their lives coming across the Channel like that they are; but 2) when they get here, it does seem, and I think this is why a lot of Labour voters as well are now sitting there going there’s something wrong here, it seems, ‘Welcome, come on in’.
‘This is the narrative we’re being fed. Here’s the hotel, here’s the phones, here’s the iPad, here’s the NHS in reception of your hotel. Here’s three meals a day, here’s a games room in the hotel. Have a lovely time and welcome.
‘And then there’s people that have lived here all their lives that are struggling, our homeless. Let’s not even discuss our homeless. There are people living on the streets, veterans, all of this.
‘This isn’t me getting on my soapbox, because let me be honest, everyone’s going to have an opinion about this and you’re going to upset someone, some which way. I believe that something major needs to be done about this.
‘The money that it’s costing us, the amount of people that are in this country that we have no idea who they are, what they’ve done, what they’re capable of – and clearly we see a lot of it in the press at the moment, what some are doing – it’s not all – what some are doing to people in this country.
‘How can if I turn up at Heathrow Airport as a British citizen and I’ve left my passport in Spain, I’ve got to stand at that airport and won’t be let in and got to get this. But if I arrive on a boat from Calais, I get taken to a four-star hotel?’
He later wrote on X: ‘You can be pro immigration and against illegal routes. You can support trans people and have the utmost respect for women.
‘You can be heterosexual and still support gay rights. The list continues. Stop with this putting everyone in a box exercise and maybe have conversations instead of shouting on Twitter.’
It comes after Clark was forced to cancel work commitments last month when his mother was rushed to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, after falling ill.
Clark did not reveal the reason she was admitted to hospital, but later confirmed that she was allowed home in time for her birthday after being put on antibiotics.
Meanwhile Sir Keir Starmer is facing mounting pressure over the small boats crisis amid ongoing protests at sites housing asylum seekers including hotels.
The Prime Minister and his Government have set out measures to speed up the asylum appeals system to aid the removal of people with no right to be in the UK.
So far this year more than 28,000 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats.
The Government has put forward plans for a new system where a panel of independent adjudicators, rather than tribunal judges, deals with appeals over asylum decisions.
There are about 51,000 asylum appeals waiting to be heard, taking on average more than a year to reach a decision, with the backlog now thought to be the biggest cause of pressure in the asylum accommodation system.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Nigel Farage’s Reform pledged to scale up detention capacity for asylum seekers to 24,000 and secure deals with countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea and Iran to return migrants to their countries.
Reform’s proposals are targeted at deporting people entering the UK via unauthorised routes such as small boat crossings in the Channel.