UK IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT TEAM ARREST OVER 600 FOR WORKING ILLEGALLY
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As part of the new Labour government’s commitment to combat unlawful migration and people smuggling gangs, UK immigration enforcement teams made over 600 arrests in January, a 73 percent rise compared to the same month last year, officials said on Monday.
According to a government statement, 609 arrests were made during visits to more than 800 locations, including convenience stores, restaurants, nail salons, and vehicle washes, up from 352 in January 2024.
When Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer took office last year, he promptly abandoned the idea of his Conservative predecessor, Rishi Sunak, to deport new arrivals to Rwanda in order to discourage undocumented migration to the UK.
Rather, he promised to “smash the gangs” in order to reduce the numbers.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said employers had for too long been able to “exploit illegal migrants and too many people have been able to arrive and work illegally with no enforcement action ever taken”.
“We are boosting enforcement to record levels alongside tough new legislation to smash the criminal gangs that undermine our border security and who have been getting away with it for far too long,” she said.
Undocumented migration by people who take small, perilously unsafe boats across the English Channel from northern France to southern England was a major issue at last July’s general election which brought Starmer’s Labour Party to power.
Regular migration, which is currently running at historically high levels, estimated at 728,000 for the year to June 2024, was also a hot button issue at the polls.
To counter the surging popularity for Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party, which received over four million votes in the July 4 poll—an extraordinary number for a far-right party—Starmer must cut back on both legal and illegal migration.
According to preliminary data from the interior ministry, 36,816 individuals were found in the Channel in 2024, a 25% rise over the 29,437 who entered in 2023.
Starmer has also established a new Border Security Command and bolstered collaboration with European partners, including Europol, as part of his strategy to decrease undocumented migration.
Britain has signed joint action plans with Germany and Iraq aimed at tackling the smuggling gangs. They build on earlier agreements signed under the previous Conservative government, including with France and Albania.
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The government also points to an increase in the return of irregular migrants to their countries of origin, the highest since 2017.
Its new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, designed to give law enforcement officials “counter-terror style powers” to break up gangs bringing irregular migrants across the Channel, is due to get its second reading in parliament on Monday.
AFP
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