While hundreds of Channel crossings were recorded on certain days at the beginning of August, London wants to tackle the “gangs” of people smugglers and increase the number of expulsions.
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Keir Starmer had promised to tackle immigration issues with “humanity“. A little over a month after coming to power, the British Labour government announced on Wednesday August 21 a series of measures to combat illegal immigration.
In a statement, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she intended to tackle first the “gangs” of people smugglers, by strengthening the services responsible for investigating these organizations. It also promises to increase the number of deportations of rejected asylum seekers, to return to the 2018 level after several years of decline. The Labor government also wants to target employers using irregular migrants.
This August, hundreds of migrant arrivals on the English coast have been recorded, sometimes daily – more than 700 people crossed the Channel illegally on 11 August alone.
The fight against illegal immigration was a major issue of the election campaign. Keir Starmer abandoned, upon coming to power, the previous Conservative government’s plan to deport illegal migrants to Rwanda, including asylum seekers, who had arrived in the United Kingdom illegally.
Since then, the United Kingdom has been deeply affected by a series of Islamophobic and racist riots in around ten cities: protesters have notably attacked hotels where asylum seekers were staying while their applications were being processed, and businesses run by immigrants.
