UK Unveils Crackdown on Asylum Seekers Amid Immigration Row

Date: 14 December 2022 - 21:06

News ID: ۱۱۰۱۶۹

LONDON (Dispatches) - Britain said it planned to bring in new legislation to prevent migrants who cross the English Channel from remaining in the country, as the government tries to control a surge in people arriving in small boats on its southern coast.

The number of people arriving in England across the Channel has more than doubled in the last two years, with government figures showing Albanians account for the highest number of people arriving by this route.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a new five-point strategy for dealing with illegal immigration, including plans to fast-track the return of Albanian asylum seekers, and clearing the initial backlog of almost 150,000 asylum cases by the end of next year by doubling the number of caseworkers.

“If you enter the UK illegally you should not be able to remain here,” Sunak told parliament. “Instead, you will be detained and swiftly returned either to your home country or to a safe country where your asylum claim will be considered.”

Migrants arriving on small boats has become a major political issue for the Conservative government, particularly in working-class areas in the north and central England, where migrants are blamed for making it harder to find work and stretching public services.

Sunak said a new unit would be created to tackle crossings, and that in future migrants would be housed in disused holiday parks, former student accommodation and surplus military sites rather than hotels.

Early on Wednesday, a small boat loaded with migrants heading for British shores from France capsized in the freezing waters of the English Channel, resulting in four deaths, the British government said.

Lifeboats, helicopters and rescue teams working with the French and British navies responded to the incident, which took place as immigration to Britain organized by people-trafficking criminal gangs has become in priority issue for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government.

“Authorities were alerted to an incident in the Channel concerning a migrant small boat in distress,” a government spokesperson said in a statement.

Italy Says EU Must Do More to Halt Migrant Flows

On Tuesday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the European Union must do more to protect its borders and to halt the departure of migrant boats from north Africa,

Meloni was speaking to the Italian parliament ahead of an EU summit this week. Italy, which has vowed a tough line on immigration, took in more than 500 migrants on Sunday when two charity rescue ships were allowed to dock.

Later in the debate Meloni said the EU relocation policy for migrants was not working for Italy which was being left to shoulder too great a burden.

“I don’t think it’s a solution to say that Italy should be the only port of disembarkation in the EU and then for every 100,000 people who come in, other countries take 30.”

“I do not think Italy should do alone what others are not willing to do.”

But other EU states are also under pressure from migration via other routes.

In September alone, France received around 15,000 asylum applications, Germany almost 21,000, Austria around 15,700 and Spain more than 11,000 compared to 8,500 for Italy, data from EU statistics agency Eurostat shows.