UK bolsters fight against migrant crossings

The British government on Wednesday announced new measures to crack down on high numbers of asylum seekers arriving illegally on small boats from France.

It said 100 “new specialist intelligence and investigation officers” would be recruited to the National Crime Agency (NCA) to help dismantle smuggling gangs that run the dangerous crossings.

The interior ministry added that the government aims over the next six months to achieve the highest rate of deportations of failed asylum seekers for five years.

The Labour government, which won an election last month, intends to increase detention capacity at removal centers and sanction employers who hire people with no right to work in the UK, the Home Office said.

“We are taking strong and clear steps to boost our border security and ensure the rules are respected and enforced,” interior minister Yvette Cooper said in a statement.

Stopping the small boat arrivals was a key issue in the July 4 election, in which Labour won a thumping majority.

Within days of taking power, Prime Minister Keir Starmer scrapped a controversial scheme to deport illegal migrants to Rwanda, which had been a flagship policy of the last Conservative government.

Starmer has instead pledged to dismantle the people-smuggling gangs who organize the crossings and are paid thousands of euros by each migrant.

The Home Office is recruiting a so-called Border Security Commander who will work with European countries against the people-smuggling gangs.

Starmer has also pledged with French President Emmanuel Macron to strengthen “cooperation” in handling the surge in undocumented migrant numbers.

More than 200 people crossed the Channel in three boats on Monday, taking the provisional total for the year so far to 19,294, according to Home Office figures.

This is a 10 percent increase on the number recorded last year, which was 17,620, but down on the 21,344 crossings recorded in the same period of 2022.

The Home Office said the NCA is pursuing about 70 investigations against criminal networks involved in people trafficking.

It said the government would issue financial penalty notices, business closure orders and bring possible prosecutions against anyone employing illegal workers.

The department also said it was adding 290 beds to two removal centers and redeploying staff to try to remove failed asylum seekers at the highest rate since 2018. The ministry did not give figures on the numbers involved.