Latest news with #people-smugglers
France 24
7 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
UK launches first sanctions in new strategy to deter migrant crossings
In what it called a "landmark" first use of new powers, the move came as the government faces political pressure to stem migrant arrivals on small boats from northern France, at record levels. The asset freezes and travel bans announced target individuals and entities "driving irregular migration to the UK", and include four "gangs" and "gangland bosses" operating in the Balkans, the Foreign Office said. They also hit a small boat supplier in China, so-called "hawala" money movers in the Middle East, and seven alleged people-smugglers linked to Iraq. Foreign Secretary David Lammy called it "a landmark moment in the government's work to tackle organised immigration crime" impacting the UK. "From Europe to Asia we are taking the fight to the people-smugglers who enable irregular migration, targeting them wherever they are in the world," he added. "My message to the gangs who callously risk vulnerable lives for profit is this: we know who you are, and we will work with our partners around the world to hold you to account." 'Terrorising refugees' Prime Minister Keir Starmer took office a year ago promising to curb the journeys by "smashing the gangs" that facilitate the crossings, but he has struggled to deliver. Nearly 24,000 migrants have made the perilous journey across the Channel so far in 2025, the highest ever tally at this point in a year. The issue has become politically perilous in the UK, blamed for helping to fuel the rise of the far-right and violence at anti-migrant demonstrations. Protests have erupted sporadically outside hotels believed to house asylum-seekers, with a recent demonstration outside one in Epping, east of London, descending into clashes that injured eight police officers. Riots sparked by the stabbing to death of three young girls in northwestern Southport a year ago also saw suspected asylum-seeker hotels attacked and anti-migrant sentiment on display. As part of its strategy to curb new arrivals, the government is also cracking down on illegal working, which European neighbours cite as a "pull factor" for UK-bound migrants. It announced late Tuesday a new agreement with delivery firms Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats which includes sharing the locations of asylum hotels to help tackle illegal working. Meanwhile in another new tactic, artificial intelligence technology will be trialled to assess disputed ages of asylum-seekers who claim to be children, the interior ministry said Tuesday. 'Far-fetched' Wednesday's designations represent the UK's first use of its new "Global Irregular Migration Sanctions Regime". It claims the regime is a "world first", empowering the Foreign Office to target foreign financiers and companies as well as individuals allegedly involved in facilitating people-smuggling to the UK. In all, it sanctioned 20 individuals, four gangs -- two Balkan groups and two of North African origin operating in the Balkans -- and Chinese firm Weihai Yamar Outdoor Product Co. It has advertised its small boats online "explicitly for the purpose of people-smuggling," the Foreign Office said. Among those facing curbs was Bledar Lala, described as an Albanian controlling "the 'Belgium operations' of an organised criminal group" involved in the crossings. The UK also targeted Alen Basil, a former police translator it accused of now leading a large smuggling network in Serbia, "terrorising refugees, with the aid of corrupt policemen". London hit alleged "gangland boss" Mohammed Tetwani with sanctions, noting he was dubbed the "King of Horgos" over his brutal running of a migrant camp in the Serbian town Horgos. Author and researcher Tom Keatinge, of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said the sanctions were "a new front in the UK's efforts to control a business model that brings profit to the enablers" and misery to victims. "However, I would caution against overpromising," he told AFP. "Talk of freezing assets and using sanctions to 'smash the gangs' seems far-fetched and remains to be seen. © 2025 AFP
Telegraph
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Migrant back door remains open after Starmer deal, warn unionists
Keir Starmer must stop people-smugglers using Northern Ireland as a back door into Britain, senior unionists have warned. 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.
Daily Mail
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Calais police pose for a selfie after they slash people smugglers' dinghy... before letting the gang saunter away
French police failed to chase down 12 suspected people-smugglers yesterday after they abandoned their boat on the beach near Calais and sauntered away. The officers made no attempt to follow despite the intense focus on their president's new deal with Sir Keir Starmer to stop the boats. Instead, minutes earlier, the same policemen – in full riot gear – had fired rounds of tear gas to disperse at least 50 migrants, who had emerged from the sand dunes to try to board the vessel at Gravelines beach to make their way to Britain. At the same time, a police drone hovered in the sky overhead as a few more officers monitored the situation from a nearby lighthouse. As if to drive home the farce of the dawn spectacle, witnessed by The Mail on Sunday, three officers then amused themselves by slashing the inflatable dinghy to make it inoperable – before taking selfies. It is thought around 200 migrants had slept in the dunes overnight, hoping to be lucky. Among them was a 26-year-old Bangladeshi man, Shahin, who admitted he had planned to seek asylum as soon as he reached England – by claiming he was a minor. He had even shaved for the occasion to make himself look younger. The Mail on Sunday's reporter caught up with him as he hurried back to Calais with a group of ten Vietnamese nationals, many still clutching their life jackets, to catch a bus back to their camp in Dunkirk, 18 miles away. Migrants sit on a dinghy in Gravelines, France, as they prepare to sail into the English Channel on May 31, 2025 Begging us not to film or photograph him, Shahin said he had been living in Britain until three months ago, having arrived on a domestic work visa and had claimed asylum while working in the construction industry. When his asylum claim was rejected, he said he then married a woman in London, living in Whitechapel until the marriage broke down and he decided to leave for France. Shahin said he had reconciled with his wife and paid a Kurdish people-smuggler £1,730 to take him to the UK, and had already tried twice in lorries, but was caught both times. Speaking in his native Bengali, he said, laughing: 'This is why I have shaved. I am actually 26. When I finally get there I will say I am underage.' Meanwhile, three boats carrying dozens of migrants successfully left from other destinations along the coastline and were intercepted by Border Force cutters mid-way in the English Channel and brought to Dover. On Friday, 353 boat migrants arrived in Dover in ten boats, bringing the record tally this year so far to 22,043. French Police enter the water to try and stop migrants boarding small boats that had come to collect them from further down the coastline on June 13, 2025 in Gravelines, France French police officers watch a group of people thought to be migrants board a small boat leaving the beach at Gravelines, France, on May 31, 2025 Last night, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'After Keir Starmer's posturing and fake bonhomie with Emmanuel Macron last week, The Mail on Sunday has uncovered the reality of what is actually happening on the ground in France. 'Far from smashing the gangs, brazen people-smugglers are allowed to walk free. 'And now we learn that a 26-year-old Bangladeshi plans to pretend to be under18 in order to get special treatment in the UK.' Mr Philp added: 'Since we're the only country in Europe not to use scientific age-assessment methods and activist lawyers help the illegal immigrants fake their age, he will probably get away with it and may pop up in a classroom near you soon.'
