We released a new analysis which remarkably showed that – even as illegal arrivals by boat have skyrocketed, with the 2021 total now surpassing the 20,000 mark (as we forecast back in June, see here in The Sun) – there has been a fall in the number of UK arrests of those connected with these deadly and illegal crossings (see our Channel Tracker for more on numbers crossing). So as crossings rise, enforcement collapses further. See below for our media comments on this point.
In two important admissions last week, the Home Secretary said that 70% of those crossing in small boats were ‘effectively economic migrants’, not genuine refugees (see Q4 of transcript of the Home Secretary’s evidence to the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights). We also separately learned from the Home Office that none of those entering via this route this year has been returned to the country they sailed from directly to the UK or back to their EU countries of origin nor, indeed, to any other safe country they passed through to get to their departure point (see government release). While legislation, which we are told will address the problem, passes through Parliament, you might be forgiven for thinking that there will be more enforcement action, as penalties are toughened and loopholes (one hopes) closed. However, the Crown Prosecution Service has said (following agreement with the Home Office) that it ‘is unlikely that those who are simply occupants [of boats] would be prosecuted.’ The question then for the HO is: why are you giving yourself powers to do this if you don’t have the bottle to enforce the law?
In other news, please see here for our President Lord Green’s intervention in the House of Lords, where he pointed out that the government has caved in to big business demands on foreign workers, at the expense of British workers.
Blog of the week
Toughen up on tackling illegal immigration
Less than a fifth of those encountered in illegal immigration raids on private homes and care homes employing illegal migrants were removed from the country between 2015 and 2019 (just 7,600 out of 44,400 people). The zealots of the open borders industry are quick to insist that the lack of removals due to raids renders those raids pointless. This is shady reasoning, at best. The problem is not the raids themselves, but the declining amount and effectiveness of enforcement. In fact, according to the National Audit Office (NAO), the funding that is set aside for enforcement action against illegal immigration has fallen year on year since 2015. Read our full blog for more, and to learn more about spending and staffing for the immigration and asylum functions of the Home Office, read this short recent paper and summary.
Migration Watch in the news
Our Chairman Alp Mehmet has been in demand by the nation’s media this week. See below:
Mail on Sunday: More than 900 foreign criminals including murderers, robbers and rapists are on the loose in the UK
‘The number of absconders is shocking. It is symptomatic of the shamefully short-sighted starving of immigration enforcement resources since 2018. These dangerous thugs should be detained and removed, not given the freedom of the UK. The public have had enough.’
Daily Express: ‘Utter disbelief!’ Priti Patel skewered over ‘total failure’ to get grip of migrant crisis
‘The Government have totally failed in the Channel and their timid policies have made a bad situation worse.’
Daily Telegraph: Number of Channel migrants to reach UK hits record 20,000
‘As illegal arrivals have shot up the proportion of arrests has gone the other way, with zero returns reported this year of those who have come through, and set sail from, safe countries to get here. Meanwhile, the British people look on in utter disbelief as one Home Secretary after another fails to get a grip of an ever-worsening situation.’
The Conservative Woman: Arrests plummet as illegal Channel crossings soar
‘This is another shocker. As illegal arrivals have shot up, the proportion of arrests has gone the other way.’
And click here to see a clip of Alp on Talk Radio with Julia Hartley-Brewer this week.
Make your voice heard
Some politicians are very open about their desire for open an border. Others make promises and talk tough on immigration only to fail to deliver and leave borders more open than ever (effectively where we are now). No more is this more evident than in the government’s post-Brexit immigration system which uses the regained sovereignty of our borders to open up the UK to potentially millions of people from around the globe, while hiding behind the fig leaf of ‘taking back control.’
If you want immigration and border control to deliver tangible reductions in mass immigration, please write to your MP and make your voice heard.