logo
How Europe is cracking down on migrants with deportations in DAYS while soft-touch Starmer lets 50,000 cross channel

How Europe is cracking down on migrants with deportations in DAYS while soft-touch Starmer lets 50,000 cross channel

The Sun15 hours ago
AS 50,000 migrants have poured into Britain in small boats, European nations are cracking down and securing their own borders.
With public anger growing over soaring entries to their nations, more leaders are taking a harsher stance on migration - and dishing out swift deportations.
12
12
12
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer passed the damning milestone of 50,000 people crossing the Channel in small boats under his watch.
This is despite pledges from Labour to cut net migration to the UK when they entered office last year.
Home Office stats show arrivals this year are 47 per cent higher than the same point in 2024 and 67 per cent higher than in 2023.
Some 474 people arrived on Monday, taking the total since Starmer's landslide to 50,271.
Sir Keir did not repeat his predecessor Rishi Sunak 's pledge to "stop the boats" - instead proposing to "smash the gangs" smuggling people into Britain as his solution.
But the PM has come under increasing pressure to lower immigration numbers amid growing discontent - with Downing Street admitting "there's clearly much more to do".
A Sun investigation uncovered a string of generous perks offered to small boat migrants - including discounts on martial arts classes and dinghy days out plus £1 Aston Villa match tickets for kids.
Meanwhile, governments in Europe are cracking down and booting migrants out at swift speeds.
PORTUGAL
On Friday, dozens of migrants landed at an Algarve beach - but were immediately detained.
A total of 38 people arrived on the small wooden boat, but they were quickly rounded up by cops.
And many have been hauled before court in a lightning crackdown.
Illegal migrant LIVE STREAMS step by step channel crossing & boasts 'my dream was to come here' from 4 star asylum hotel
Authorities said: "The migrants were in a debilitated state and in need of medical care, showing signs of dehydration and hypothermia."
But 31 of the 38 were taken to court the following day where a judge gave them 20 days to voluntarily return to Morocco.
Portugal 's government has vowed to crack down hard on migration.
Prime Minister Luís Montenegro's government issued thousands of deportation orders during a tight election campaign earlier this year amid surging popularity for the far-right Chega party.
"This is a case of Montenegro becoming Trumpian," said opposition politician Pedro Nuno Santos during the campaign.
12
12
GREECE
Greece 's Conservative-led government has pledged to bring in a "disincentive-based policy" to deter migrants.
Migration Minister Thanos Plevris recently told Skai TV: "From now on, the government will follow a policy of drastically reducing benefits."
He even pointed to the menus given to migrants at camps, which he called "hotel-like".
The government even went as far as to suspend processing asylum applications from North Africa for three months amid a surge in arrivals.
Many of them had arrived on Crete, Greece's largest island.
But the deputy mayor Eleni Zervoudaki told The Sun: "From the moral side it's illegal and it's not right, but from the other side I can understand the government is searching for a way to stop illegal immigration."
The hairline stance taken by the Greek government has paid dividends - with numbers of arrivals nosediving since the move.
12
12
GERMANY
Under former Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany famously adopted an "open door" that saw tens of thousands of people arrive in the country.
But fast-forward to 2025, and Berlin is taking a much stricter stance on the matter.
New Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed to crack down on illegal immigration upon entering office.
The open door order has now been revoked, undocumented asylum seekers are being pushed back, and far more cops deployed to the German border.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has confirmed that the measures will continue to remain in place.
12
POLAND
Not content to simply police their border, Polish authorities have announced that fences will be built to prevent illegal migration.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk didn't mince words earlier this year when he said: "Anyone who visits Poland, takes advantage of our hospitality and brutally violates the law will be deported from Poland."
Poland has also carried out brutal immigration raids involving 26,000 police officers and 1,000 border guards.
Nearly 1,500 migrants were detained in the raids between February 13 and 14.
Karol Nawrocki won the Polish presidency this summer on a campaign that targeted refugees and migrants.
His key slogan was "Poland first, Poles first".
ITALY
Italy has taken an increasingly muscular approach to immigration over the past few years.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni claims Italy under her watch has become a "model to follow" for other nations.
The country even took the unprecedented step to ground a reconnaissance plane used by a German migrant rescue charity.
NGO Sea-Watch hit back at Italy over the move, calling it "a new escalation in the Italian government's fight against civilian human rights observation in the Mediterranean".
Italy is also trying to establish an offshore asylum processing system in Albania.
Sir Keir Starmer once said he showed "great interest" in this prospective deal.
In the UK, anger at illegal migration is focused on expensive asylum hotels and private housing being used to put up Channel crossers.
12
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Spanish people know deadly heatwaves are now an annual event. So why are our politicians in denial?
Spanish people know deadly heatwaves are now an annual event. So why are our politicians in denial?

The Guardian

timean hour ago

  • The Guardian

Spanish people know deadly heatwaves are now an annual event. So why are our politicians in denial?

Growing up in Madrid, intense summer heat was nothing unusual. I quickly learned always to cross the street in search of shade, and never to be caught out in the sun at 3pm. But as a child in the early 1980s, I never felt dizzy after spending more than a few minutes outdoors, nor did I struggle to study or sleep at home because of the heat. Back then, air conditioning was a rarity, something only Americans had. But we were fine: the stuttering fan in my mother's Ford Fiesta was enough to keep us comfortable on holiday escapes from the capital. What is happening in Spain now goes far beyond discomfort. More than 1,500 deaths have already been linked to heatwaves this summer alone. Public-sector workers are collapsing from heatstroke on our city streets. Entire communities in the Madrid suburbs have been devastated by wildfires. On Monday, 198 weather stations recorded temperatures of 40C or higher. Following a record-breaking July, the first 20 days of August will probably be the warmest on record. Alongside housing, the climate crisis is Spain's most visible and most persistent problem: every summer reminds us of this. You can't ignore it, or escape it; so why are Spain's politicians still so reluctant to tackle the climate emergency? Fighting global heating is a worldwide challenge, but protecting populations against the consequences – with an awareness that Europe is heating faster than other continents – must also be a national and a local priority. Within Spain, the climate crisis too often becomes an excuse for superficial, party-political feuds. In the population at large, there has been years of broad popular consensus, but contrast that with Spain's politicians, for whom the issue has become increasingly partisan, with the right and the left fighting over totemic policies about cars and bikes. Even Spain's centre-left coalition government, led by Pedro Sánchez's Spanish Socialist Workers' party (PSOE), has taken only modest steps to reduce emissions from industry and transport. And as they do on other issues, the socialists rush to point the finger at regional and local governments run by the conservative People's party (PP), supported in some cases by the far-right Vox, which has pushed falsehoods and conspiracy theories about the climate crisis. It is true that Spain's regional and local governments, powerful and well funded, also bear great responsibility: for protecting the most vulnerable from extreme heat, adapting public spaces, planting trees and ensuring there is sufficient shade and water fountains. One urgent necessity is the creation of 'cool banks', especially for people in overcrowded and overheated homes, those with health vulnerabilities, the very young and the very old. Valencia has a network of these climate shelters, while Barcelona has mapped out hundreds of public spaces where people can escape the heat, from libraries to museums. But too many local governments are still failing to provide respite. Madrid is among the worst offenders. Public cooling centres are almost nonexistent, and shopping centres remain the most common refuge. The capital's conservative regional and local governments have been passive or even hostile towards public demands to reduce dangerous heat levels in neighbourhoods, with too few green spaces and too many cars. When Madrid's city hall does spend money, it often misses the point: the most absurd example is Puerta del Sol, the central square that after months of renovation work still feels like a concrete frying pan all summer. Only after protests did the city council finally install a few flimsy shades, at a cost of €1.5m. For those Madrileños who have the option, the traditional way to make August bearable has been to escape the city for the coast. My childhood memories of cooler summers visiting grandparents in northern Spain feel very distant now. The north still enjoys bearable nights and some rain in the summer, but heatwaves have become more frequent there too. The change is fast and visible, even in daily life. This year in the Basque country, beach bathing has been repeatedly banned because of the portuguese man o'war, a creature resembling a jellyfish, but one that is much more toxic and dangerous. Once confined to warmer Atlantic waters, it has only begun appearing here in recent years. On a recent walk along San Sebastián's beach, I spotted dozens, fortunately tiny, each circled in the sand to warn passersby. More medical resources and surveillance are now being devoted to this new threat – another example of the small everyday adaptations we are having to make. The most dramatic consequences of the climate crisis make headlines around the world: the tragic deaths of workers in vulnerable jobs, picking fruit or cleaning streets, and wildfires killing people, destroying homes and even a Roman-era mining site – now a burned-out Unesco world heritage site. But across Spain, the signs are everywhere: crops ruined by hail, high-speed trains disrupted, and neighbourhoods baking in the heat. This is the new reality we are living with. It has become a regular fixture in our calendars. A journalist colleague of mine observed earlier this year that the most important annual climate event for the media is not Cop, it's the summer. It was February in the northern hemisphere, and he was already preparing their annual heatwave coverage. My newsroom in Madrid does the same, with ever more sophisticated data and analysis. The frustrating question is why our politicians are still shrugging off this reality, as though it were just an inconvenience. How many broken records and how many heatwave deaths will it take to change this? María Ramírez is a journalist and the deputy managing editor of a news outlet in Spain

Pressure is building on Sir Keir Starmer to sack his trade envoy to Turkey over trip to northern Cyprus
Pressure is building on Sir Keir Starmer to sack his trade envoy to Turkey over trip to northern Cyprus

Daily Mail​

time2 hours ago

  • Daily Mail​

Pressure is building on Sir Keir Starmer to sack his trade envoy to Turkey over trip to northern Cyprus

Pressure was last night coming from within Labour for Keir Starmer to sack his trade envoy to Turkey over an unauthorised trip. Afzal Khan is back in the UK after a trip to the self-declared Turkish republic of northern Cyprus - a territory the UK, and most of the rest of the world, does not recognise. During his trip, the MP for Manchester Rusholme met Ersin Tatar, the leader of Turkish Cypriots, in his official residence. He posed for a photo with the leader, giving a suggestion of a bilateral meeting as opposed to a personal visit. After days of questions being asked by others, the Daily Mail understands the matter is being raised internally within Labour, with a sense of unhappiness as to how it has been allowed to escalate into a diplomatic spat and demands that No 10 act. Labour MPs are also believed to have raised the matter with ministers to channel the fury of Greek Cypriots over the trip. The official government of Cyprus said the visit last week was 'absolutely condemnable and unacceptable' and that UK officials should 'respect' their state. It also provoked an outcry from Greek Cypriots who have called for his dismissal over a breach of UN resolutions that forbid recognition of the territory's government. Mr Khan was due to receive a degree from a local university, but no announcement has been made, suggesting he may have been recalled by the UK Government or a news blackout was imposed, given the controversy. The trip is said to have been a 'personal' visit and ministers were not aware of the plans, raising further questions about whether he can remain in his job. Tory MP Sir Roger Gale, the honorary president of the all-party parliamentary group for Cyprus, said Sir Keir should sack Mr Khan. 'The UK has a responsibility as a guarantor power to Cyprus,' he added. 'His position as trade envoy is untenable.' Shadow foreign affairs minister Wendy Morton has written to ministers calling for the envoy to be removed from his role. 'This visit risks undermining the UK's credibility as a guarantor power and as an impartial interlocutor in settlement negotiations,' she said. Mr Tatar waded into the row this week by criticising the 'intolerant statements and excessive attacks made by the Greek Cypriot side'. A hardline nationalist who is close to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he added that the visit was undertaken 'at my invitation'. Mr Tatar told Mr Khan he wanted to pursue a 'two-state solution' despite no international recognition of the seized territory, it was reported. Mr Khan replied that his friends of Cypriot origin living in Manchester had encouraged him to visit the island, adding: 'That is why I am happy to be here.' A government spokesman said last night the visit was 'undertaken in a personal capacity' and there was no change to the UK's long-standing position on the seized territory.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store