Government has stated there will be a ‘surge’ of return flights for illegal immigrants. Returning Immigrants to their country of birth. Raising serious questions as to why this hasn’t been done before?
Government Strategy
The Government has shared their plan to hire 100 more intelligence officers. Showing serious intent to tackle smuggling gangs and the criminals which support the boat crisis.
Immigration Centers to Reopen
Centers in Hampshire and Oxfordshire to reopen and house up to 260 more illegal immigrants while they’re applications are processed. This is following the decade long austerity the country is coming out of after the consecutives conservative governments.
Opposition to Plans
The conservatives stated that they were “not serious about tackling the people smugglers or stopping the boats”.
Shadow Home Secretary Comments
James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary said plans were “not ambitious enough” after welcoming what has been offered. Which highlights the question why bolder plans weren’t in place when the conservatives were in power.
Rwanda Scheme Cancellation Criticized
James Cleverly added: “Paired with their moves to cancel our [Rwanda scheme] deterrent, give an effective amnesty to thousands of illegal migrants, and failure to hire a head of their phantom border command, it doesn’t scratch the surface,”.
Flights Return Illegal Migrants
Seema Malhotra, a Home Office Minister says nine “return” flights have taken off since the election win by Labour. Highlighting the intention by Labour to tackle the illegal immigration crisis.
UK Border Security Command Chief
The new border security command chief has yet to be hired.
Rates of Removal
Labour aims to have “the highest rate of removals of those with no right to be here” since Teresa May. There will be 3000 more forced removals to reach 2018 levels where there were 9000 removals.
Low Bar
Dr Walsh states “looks like an achievable goal but it’s a pretty low bar”. As 2018 was the lowest amount of removals for 20 years.
Voluntary Removals
In 2018 there were more voluntary removals than forced removals. This is thought to be because of budget cuts, legal challenges and few returns agreements.
Detention Over Voluntary Removal
Enver Solomon, the CEO of the Refugee Council charity, states that he would prefer encouragement of voluntary returns rather than expand the detention centers.
Expand Voluntary Removal
Enver Soloman added: “Instead of wasting taxpayers’ money on expanding detention places the government should be investing in what are called voluntary returns programs.
Respect and humanity
Finally adding: “If you treat people with respect and humanity and support them to return, many more people return.”
Small Boat Increases
A tally of greater than 19,000 people have crossed the channel. Up on the previous period last year. But down from the peak of 21,000 in the same period of 2022.
Rwanda Scheme
The previous Conservative government set up the Rwandan scheme. This was the scheme which aimed at deporting people to a third safe country and reducing the number of illegal migrants.
Did the Rwandan Scheme Work?
The scheme did not have any flights take off before the election. And Labour scrapped the scheme after the election. Sighting it was a waste of money and effort to tackle the ilegal migration crisis. Labeling the scheme as a “gimmick”
Criminal Gangs
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has sad he wants to tackle the criminal gangs to ultimately stop the small boats and illegal immigration. In addition to this he wants to speed up sending people back who are illegal.
Government Optimistic
The government added they will “disrupt and smash criminal smuggling gangs and prevent dangerous boat crossings”. Funding 100 new intelligence officers.
Investigations Into Gangs
There are 70 active investigations into people trafficking and smuggling gangs. These investigations will also target the supply and sale of small inflatable boats.
Dealing With Failed Asylum Seekers
Government staff to be re-deployed to deal with the failed asylum seekers. In addition clamping down on businesses which hire these illegal immigrants or failed asylum seekers.
Other Measures to Tackle Migration
The government has unveiled plans to open detention centers in Oxfordshire and Hampshire. This will increase the number of places there are for detention of illegal migrants.
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Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / Sean Aidan Calderbank.