U.K. Announces Random Sanctions Hoping To Reduce Irregular Migration
The government of the United Kingdom has announced a raft of financial sanctions and asset freezes against various individuals and entities it says are 'driving' irregular migration to Britain. It is the latest step in the Labour party government's attempts to reduce arrivals to the U.K., particularly those coming across the English channel by small boat from France. While the government is saying this move represents an 'innovative foreign policy approach" to deliver on its commitments to reduce irregular migration, it is unclear how this raft of sanctions will help, given the diffuse nature of smuggling networks and irregular migration.
'This is a landmark moment in the government's work to tackle organized immigration crime (and) reduce irregular migration to the U.K.' said Foreign Secretary David Lammy in the press release announcing the sanctions. In total, the government says it will sanction 25 individuals and entities 'at the heart of people-smuggling networks that drive irregular migration to the U.K.'
These sanctions target various people and entities that are allegedly involved in the smuggling trade, including a Chinese company which makes boats roughly corresponding to those used by people to cross the channel, as well as various Balkan groups that allegedly make fake passports for irregular migrants. On the list as well are people allegedly involved in the informal 'Hawala' system of payments very common in developing countries, as well as the 'Tetwani Gang' who are referred to in the government's press release as 'known as one of the Balkan's most violent people.'
Various other people and groups are listed for sanctions under headings such as 'Iraqi-linked people-smuggling," 'Gangland bosses,' and 'North African gangs operating in the Balkans."
If the scattershot nature of these financial sanctions is confusing, it is better understood within the context of the pressure the Labour government is under to reduce irregular migration. The party, under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, campaigned heavily on a platform of reducing irregular arrivals to the U.K. Since coming to power in mid-2024, the government under Starmer has put a heavy emphasis on border security, detention and deportations. Nonetheless, they have faced significant electoral challenge from the far-right anti-immigration Reform Party.
Facing challenge from Reform - and fearing that if they do not appear 'tough' enough on migration they will lose further electoral ground - the Starmer government has done its best to show it is taking the issue 'seriously.' In recent months, the government has announced a massive increase in deportation flights of rejected asylum seekers - despite concerns raised by legal and human rights advocates. It has also announced it is considering leveraging visa policy arrangements to get poorer countries to accept more deportations of their nationals.
None of this seems to have shifted the needle. Nonetheless, with this latest raft of sanctions, it seems the Labour government is doubling down on the strategy, isolating what various people and groups it can find to show the British public it is serious about reducing irregular migration - even if this rag-tag group of entities being denied access to the U.K. banking system probably won't quite 'stop the boats.'
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