Tag: illegal immigration

Prime Minister agrees unprecedented measures to tackle illegal migration alongside France

Package will see a new detention centre established in France as well as the deployment of more French personnel and enhanced technology to patrol beaches in a shared effort to drive down illegal migration

  • Package will see a new detention centre established in France as well as the deployment of more French personnel and enhanced technology to patrol beaches in a shared effort to drive down illegal migration.
  • The unparalleled multi-year agreement delivers on the PM’s priority to stop small boats and builds on joint measures taken with France in 2022 which increased patrols by 40%.
  • Enhanced cooperation aims to increase the interception rate for attempted crossings and drastically reduce the number of crossings each year.

Hundreds of extra French law enforcement officers will use enhanced technology and intelligence insight to prevent illegal Channel crossings under a new agreement struck by the Prime Minister and President Macron in Paris yesterday.

For the first time, the UK will help fund a detention centre in France to enhance the country’s ability to cope with the level of people being trafficked across the Channel. This new centre will support French efforts to increase detention capacity, allowing more migrants who might otherwise travel by dangerous and illegal routes to the UK to be removed from the French coast.

Building on our existing partnership, which saw twice as many illegal crossings stopped in 2022 than 2021, today’s agreement will also more than double the number of personnel deployed in northern France to tackle small boats, with over half of these in place by the end of the year. The UK will contribute funding towards this.

Efforts will be bolstered by a new, highly trained, permanent French mobile policing unit dedicated to tackling small boats. Additional drones, aircraft and other technologies like surveillance will also be deployed, as the UK and France step up intelligence sharing to clamp down on people trafficking routes.

These French efforts will be overseen by a new 24/7 zonal coordination centre, with permanent UK liaison officers. The coordination centre will bring all relevant French law enforcement partners together for the first time to coordinate the response to an alarming trend which has seen a 50% rise in illegal migration across Europe in the last year. The UK has our own Small Boats Operations Command which has ensured that 99% of those who enter British waters are intercepted.

This enhanced cooperation aims to increase the increase the interception rate for attempted crossings and drastically reduce the number of crossings each year, supporting our long-term, shared goal of completely stopping this illegal migration route.

The Prime Minister said: “I have made it one of my five priorities to stop the boats. We are delivering on that priority to stop people coming to the UK illegally.

“Last year I agreed the largest ever small boats deal with France to increase UK-funded patrols by 40 per cent. This week I announced measures to ensure nobody who enters the UK illegally can remain here.

“We don’t need to manage this problem, we need to break it. And today, we have gone further than ever before to put an end to this disgusting trade in human life. Working together, the UK and France will ensure that nobody can exploit our systems with impunity.”

In addition to the extra steps taken to patrol the beaches in the north of France, today’s agreement will also see further UK and French cooperation upstream to stop illegal migration at source. This includes further coordination between the National Crime Agency and its French counterpart via officers based in countries along the routes favoured by people traffickers.

Alongside last year’s deal with France, the Prime Minister has taken a number of steps to curb illegal migration since taking office. This includes re-establishing the Calais Group of Northern European nations to disrupt traffickers and setting a long-term ambition for a UK-EU wide agreement on returns – an ambition France has confirmed today that they share.

This week the UK Government has announced a Bill to end illegal entry as a route to asylum in the UK.

These measures will remove the incentive for people to risk their lives through dangerous and unnecessary journeys and pull the rug from under the criminal gangs profiting from this misery once and for all.

Illegal migrants will be detained and swiftly removed to their home country if safe, or another safe third country, such as Rwanda, where they will be supported to rebuild their lives.

Anyone illegally entering the UK will be prevented from accessing the UK’s world-leading modern slavery support or abusing these laws to block their removal.

The only challenges that will suspend removal will be where someone claims that their removal to a safe third country would lead to a real risk of serious and irreversible harm, or on the basis that they do not fall within the cohort of persons liable to removal under the Bill. Any other challenges or human rights claims can also only be heard after removal, remotely.

By ending illegal immigration as a route to asylum, stopping the boats and taking back control of our borders the Bill will ensure the UK can better support people coming through fair, safe and legal routes.

New consultation on civil penalties to tackle illegal migration

To help tackle illegal migration, the UK government is proposing tougher penalties for hauliers and vehicle drivers found carrying clandestine migrants

The UK Government has launched an industry consultation on proposals for tougher penalties to tackle illegal migration, including increasing the maximum penalty for hauliers and vehicle drivers who are found carrying a clandestine entrant from £2,000.

As part of the continued fight against illegal migration and the criminal gangs behind it, changes to the existing clandestine entrant civil penalties scheme will be made through the Nationality and Borders Act.

These include new civil penalties for hauliers and vehicle drivers who fail to adequately secure their vehicle and conduct proper checks, regardless of whether a clandestine entrant is found, as part of efforts to prevent dangerous journeys which risk serious injury or even death.

Since 2020, the number of clandestine entrants coming to the UK via HGV and goods vehicles has continued to increase year on year. The government is determined to stop this, including via these refreshed penalties for hauliers and vehicle drivers who leave themselves vulnerable to exploitation.

Ahead of implementation, we are seeking the views of vehicle drivers, companies and other interested parties on all these new measures.

The consultation with the industry will run for 8 weeks and will close on 12 September 2022.

Alongside the consultation, the Home Office will be running a series of engagement events to explore these issues in more detail.

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Simon Baynes MP said: “We are determined to do all we can to prevent illegal entry into the UK.

“Criminal gangs who risk the lives of desperate people for profit are taking advantage of those whose vehicles travel in and out of the country.

“Far too many vehicles are currently not adequately secured, and we will seek to increase penalties on those who are negligent and prosecute those who are complicit.

“This consultation is the next vital step in achieving this, and we look forward to working with the haulage industry and other interested parties to ensure that they are aware of the necessary requirements.”

The recently enacted Nationality and Borders Act is part of the UK government’s New Plan for Immigration to make it fairer for those in genuine need, deter illegal entry into the UK, break the business model of people-smuggling networks and remove those from the UK with no right to be here.