The new British government detailed new measures to combat illegal immigration on Wednesday 21 August, promising in particular to attack “the people smuggling gangs” and increase the number of migrant deportations.
With the fine weather, migrants are arriving almost daily on the English coast after crossing the Channel on rubber dinghies. There were more than 200 on Monday, nearly 500 on Saturday. On August 11, there were more than 700, a record since the Labour Party came to power in early July.
“We are taking strong and clear measures to strengthen security at our borders and ensure that the rules are respected and applied”Interior Minister Yvette Cooper said in a statement.
Immigration, a topic that will animate the parliamentary session
The fight against illegal immigration has been a major issue in the election campaign, after fourteen years of Conservative government. Upon taking office in July, Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer abandoned his predecessors' plan to deport illegal migrants to Rwanda. He promised to tackle the immigration issue “with humanity” but to reduce the number of immigrants, legal and illegal.
To do this, Yvette Cooper first wants to tackle the people smugglers. “Up to 100 new intelligence and investigation officers are being deployed to the National Crime Agency” to fight against these “gangs” and so “prevent dangerous boat crossings”it is written in the press release.
Minister promises to increase evictions. “Staff are being redeployed to increase the number of returns of rejected asylum seekers, which has fallen by 40% since 2010”. Yvette Cooper wants to reach the 2018 level of expulsions within the next six months. Some 300 agents have thus been “reassigned to review thousands of cases of rejected asylum seekers and returns, including forced and voluntary returns”according to the ministry, which also wants to target employers who employ irregular migrants.
After the far-right riots that broke out in dozens of cities in England in early August, the subject of immigration promises to animate the parliamentary session in September. These rioters notably attacked hotels where asylum seekers were staying while their applications were being processed. Shops run by immigrants were also targeted.
Source: Lemonde
