The UK government has announced plans for a "large surge" in deportation flights for failed asylum seekers and others without legal right to remain in the country, according to reporting by the BBC. The plans, unveiled by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, include hiring 100 additional intelligence officers to target people-smuggling gangs and reopening immigration removal centers in Hampshire and Oxfordshire.
Cooper stated her intention to introduce a "better-controlled" system to replace "the chaos that has blighted the system for far too long." The move is part of Labour's efforts to tackle illegal immigration and small boat crossings in the English Channel.
Home Office Minister Seema Malhotra reported that nine "return" flights have taken off in the six weeks since Labour won the election, including one carrying over 200 people. The government aims to achieve "the highest rate of removals of those with no right to be here" since Theresa May's premiership in 2018 over the next six months.
Dr. Peter Walsh, a senior researcher at the Migration Observatory, told BBC Radio 4's Today program that reaching 2018 levels would require 3,000 more removals this year than last. He described this as "an achievable goal, but it's a pretty low bar," noting that 2018 saw the lowest number of enforced removals in 20 years, excluding the pandemic period.
The Conservative opposition criticized Labour's approach, with shadow home secretary James Cleverly stating the plan was "not ambitious enough." He accused the government of giving "an effective amnesty to thousands of illegal migrants" and failing to appoint a head for their "phantom border command."
Is that all you can do to stop the boats? Yvette Cooper's plan to tackle illegal migration is branded 'a farce' amid confusion over new target to deport failed asylum seekers https://t.co/Kr87WiplBV pic.twitter.com/DY1Webx5tl
— Mail+ (@DailyMailUK) August 20, 2024
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council charity, urged the government to support voluntary returns rather than expanding detention programs. He told the BBC, "Instead of wasting taxpayers' money on expanding detention places the government should be investing in what are called voluntary returns programs."
The government's announcement includes the deployment of 100 new specialist intelligence officers and investigators to the National Crime Agency (NCA) to disrupt criminal smuggling gangs and prevent dangerous boat crossings. The NCA currently has around 70 active investigations into people smuggling and trafficking groups.
Other measures include redeploying staff to work on returning failed asylum seekers, increasing sanctions against employers who hire workers illegally, and reopening the Campsfield and Haslar detention centers in Oxfordshire and Hampshire, adding 290 beds to the system.
More than 19,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year, representing a 10% increase from last year but a decrease from the peak of over 21,000 in the same period in 2022.
Anyone involved in criminal disorder or violent thuggery on UK streets will have to pay the price 👇 pic.twitter.com/ma44tg7ymO
— Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) August 7, 2024
The Labour government has scrapped the previous Conservative administration's Rwanda scheme, which aimed to deter Channel crossings by deporting some migrants to the East African country. Instead, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to focus on combating criminal gangs arranging the crossings and expediting the process of returning those with no legal right to remain in the UK.
