The Border Force will be given new powers to seize people smugglers at sea and send migrants back to France under laws to be published today.
Priti Patel, the home secretary, will bring forward a Nationality and Borders Bill that will hand a range of new powers to the Border Force to tackle the growing Channel migrant crisis.
However, the Refugee Council said that “inadmissibility” rules to bar asylum seekers who arrive illegally would leave 9,000 genuine refugees shut out of Britain.
Critics also warned that plans in the bill to create a new offence to lock up asylum seekers arriving illegally could add thousands of people to Britain’s overcrowded prison system.
The bill will give the legal powers needed to enable Border Force agents
