Migrant back door remains open after Starmer deal, warn unionists
They fear that migrants will increasingly abuse the open border with Ireland if Sir Keir's ' one in, one out ' deal with Emmanuel Macron drives down migrant Channel crossings.
The UK and Ireland share a common travel area, which predates both countries' EU membership and allows free movement for British and Irish citizens.
The 'Irish route' sees migrants fly to Dublin from Europe, either legally or on false papers, before travelling unchecked to Northern Ireland by land.
Once in the UK, it is possible for them to claim asylum. It is also possible to travel to Britain without a passport, although airlines and ferry operators do ask for photo ID.
'We will be telling the Government to closely monitor the flow of people and do what is necessary to protect and defend the entire border of the UK,' Lord Dodds, the Democratic Unionist Party peer, told The Telegraph.
A Telegraph investigation last month revealed that Albanian gangs were charging £4,000 to use the soft border to get people into Britain, and advertising the scam on Facebook.
The gangs give migrants fake Italian ID cards that are used to fly them into Ireland, before they sneak into mainland Britain on ferries, allowing them to work illegally or claim asylum with their Albanian passports.
'If the Prime Minister is serious about securing the UK's borders, then it's time to stop pretending that our only border threat comes from the sea,' Jim Allister, MP for North Antrim and leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice, warned.
Mr Allister's office is in Ballymena, where there were anti-migrant riots in June. The violence spread across Northern Ireland over two weeks of disorder that led to 56 arrests and 107 officers injured.
The hardline unionist added: 'The people of Northern Ireland deserve the same border security and immigration enforcement as anywhere else in the United Kingdom.
'Failure to act continues to foster illegal settlement, demographic manipulation, and strain on public services – particularly in areas like Ballymena, where the impact is plain to see.'
Northern Ireland's Brexit deal kept the Irish border open after the UK left the EU. That was to protect the Good Friday Agreement, amid fears checkpoints would become a target for paramilitaries.
But many unionists believe that the deal has loosened Northern Ireland's ties with the rest of the UK, and made a united Ireland more likely by creating a customs border in the Irish Sea.
They oppose a new 'people border' being created between Northern Ireland and Britain to control any rise in illegal immigration from the region to the mainland, for fear of increasing Northern Ireland's political distance from the rest of the UK.
In a sign of growing loyalist tensions over immigration, a bonfire was burnt with an effigy of 12 migrants in a small boat carrying the Irish tricolour on top last week.
A sign strapped to the side of the pyre in Moygashel village, near Dungannon, read 'stop the boats' and another banner read 'veterans before refugees' with an image of two guns.
The bonfire was set ablaze as part of the annual July 12 celebrations to mark the victory of the protestant William of Orange over deposed King James II's Catholic forces at the Battle of the Boyne.
Katy Hayward, professor of political sociology at Queen's University Belfast, said unionist fears over immigration reflected the fact that borders were points of connection as well as division.
'This is more obvious for land borders than sea borders, which is a perpetual challenge for unionism,' Prof Hayward, an expert on the Irish border, told The Telegraph.
'Geographically outside Britain but increasingly concerned about immigration, Ulster loyalism is on high alert.
'Compounding the unease is the fact that the issue can only be effectively managed by closer British-Irish cooperation.'
After Brexit, the Government reaffirmed its commitment to the Common Travel Area and there is co-operation between London and Dublin authorities to protect it from abuse.
Under the area's rules, border guards can ask to see passports and are able to refuse entry to Britain or Ireland but this is not routine.
No immigration checks are undertaken on the Irish land border itself, but intelligence-led operations are carried out on travel routes away from it to prevent abuse.
'Whatever steps the Government takes they must also ensure that there isn't an unchecked illegal route through the Republic of Ireland,' Robin Swann, the Ulster Unionist Party's MP for South Antrim warned.
'If the Gardai can mount checks on public transport travelling from Northern Ireland to the Republic, UK authorities should be doing likewise.'
Irish police carried out spot checks away from the border last year, amid accusations that migrants were fleeing to Ireland from Northern Ireland to escape the now ditched Rwanda Plan.
In May last year, the Irish government claimed as many as 80 per cent of asylum seekers had come to Dublin from Northern Ireland.
Britain, then under a Tory government, took back at least 50 migrants from Ireland after initially refusing to do so during a diplomatic row with Dublin.
Ireland is struggling to transform from a country of emigration to immigration in the grips of a housing crisis.
There have been anti-migrant riots in Dublin and arson attacks on asylum reception centres. Tent cities sprang up in the Irish capital close to the the asylum office.
In 2024, a record total of 18,651 people applied for asylum in Ireland, which has a population of 5.3 million.
Ireland's department of Justice said it had 'noted the UK-France migrant return deal' but would not comment on bilateral agreements between other countries.
It said there was 'extensive engagement and cooperation' between its officials, the Home Office and police in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Britain 'at all levels'.
'This strong practical engagement and cooperation serves the mutual interests of both Ireland and the United Kingdom and will continue,' a spokesman added.
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