The last couple of months have seen a blizzard of announcements on everything from Border Security Command, Keir Starmer’s pledge to “smash the people smuggling gangs”, to Serious Crime Prevention Orders and, most recently last week, “world-first sanctions” aimed at those smugglers.
The insiders warned that “nobody” understood how the much-vaunted Border Security Command – that the Government says will take the lead on combating people smugglers launching small boats – would operate.
With almost 37,000 people crossing the English Channel on small boats in 2024, and a record of at least 78 people dying in the attempt, charities and experts have again warned that focusing on “smashing the gangs”, rather than offering safe alternatives for asylum seekers to reach the UK, risks making crossings more dangerous, but no less frequent.
“This will help to prevent, combat, deter and disrupt irregular migration and the smuggling of migrants into the UK.”
An inflatable dinghy carrying migrants makes its way towards England in the English Channel (Photo: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters)But officials and experts have raised doubts about whether the scheme will really reduce numbers arriving over the English Channel, or have a significant impact on internationally-networked and “flexible” groups who have continued plying their deadly trade despite years of enforcement efforts.
‘This won’t change anything’
“It won’t change anything,” said one civil servant at the department. “The groups do not have assets here or, if and when they do, they are hidden. They are trying to find a quick fix but money laundering legislation already exists, and has never stopped the smugglers.”
NCA officials also revealed that efforts to trace the groups’ financial flows had also been challenged by the use of an informal transfer system that bypasses major banks – another factor that could limit the effectiveness of sanctions.
Vessels manufactured in China were often shipped to Turkey and then transported into Europe, sometimes being warehoused in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands before being moved to France.
“We are concurrently applying pressure in all of those places [but] it’s a challenging crime to attack.”
square NEWS Almost 37,000 migrants crossed Channel in 2024 as total soars by 25%
Read More
New legislation will be needed for the powers, which officials hope to lay in Parliament before the end of this year. But the Government has not said how many smugglers could be targeted.
The Home Secretary said disrupting gangs’ finances would make it harder for them to operate, alongside separate work against Channel crossings by the Border Security Command, which is still being set up.
“If there isn’t, we’re shouting loudly but not achieving anything,” he added. “There’s a high risk that two years from now we’re discussing what impact these sanctions have had on the flow of people crossing the Channel in small boats, and the answer is nothing.”
But he warned that historically sanctions have served mainly as a diplomatic “messaging tool” rather than means of having a real-world impact on criminal groups.
Marley Morris, associate director for migration at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said the Government was sending a “strong message” but that small boat gangs had proven themselves to be resistant to previous enforcement efforts.
Serious Crime Prevention Orders
The sanctions were announced days after the Home Office unveiled separate laws that would allow suspected people smugglers to face immediate travel bans, social media blackouts and restrictions on phone usage without a crime being proven.
The Home Office said that new interim orders would speed up existing processes for the orders, allowing the NCA, police and other law enforcement agencies to apply directly to the High Court to impose immediate restrictions while a full order is considered.
Restrictions under the proposed orders would vary on a case-by-case basis but could include travel bans, restrictions on laptop or mobile phone usage, social networking, association, communications and finances.
“Most of them are not in the UK and they could easily adapt to enforcement measures,” he added.
Charities have drawn a direct link between increasing patrols on French beaches and disruption of dinghy supplies to rising deaths in the Channel, saying enforcement has caused increased overcrowding and more chaotic and dangerous methods to board boats.
Introducing “safe routes” for asylum seekers that would stop them from having to resort to such illegal and dangerous methods of arrival are seen by many as the key way to cut the demand for crossings that the gangs thrive on.
square ASYLUM SEEKERS Talks on asylum returns to begin as Iraqi PM visits Starmer
Read More
Morris said: “If you want to see an impact you need to combine enforcement with safe routes to provide an alternative to people.
Sile Reynolds, head of asylum advocacy at the Freedom from Torture, said safe routes to sanctuary in the UK “remain inadequate and inaccessible”.
“We know only too well that cracking down on the methods refugees use to escape persecution, instead of holding states accountable for their failure to protect their own people, only serves to make the journeys more dangerous for the refugees involved.”
When the Home Office and Foreign Office were approached for comment, The i Paper was pointed to comments Lammy made last week when he claimed that sanctions could allow the Government to “go after” people smugglers’ “supply chains”.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Inside the Home Office as mistrust grows over Labour’s small boats plan )
Also on site :