Immigration Removal Centres to Reopen as Border Security Command Prepares for Increased Activity
On Monday, more than 200 asylum seekers arrived by boat, bringing the total of illegal arrivals in 2024 so far to 19,294, higher than this time last year.
The government will press ahead with the previous administration’s plans to reopen two immigration removal centres, with the home secretary announcing the Border Security Command is “gearing up” to tackle illegal immigration.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced on Wednesday that new staff for the command are being urgently recruited, with additional personnel already stationed across Europe. The Home Office is in the process of recruiting a Border Security Commander to head up the unit.
Border Security Command is designed to work with multiple agencies as well as partners in the EU. Cooper said it would “work with European enforcement agencies to find every route into smashing the criminal smuggling gangs organising dangerous boat crossings which undermine our border security and put lives at risk.”
In addition, the Home Office said that up to 100 new specialists would be working on approximately 70 investigations at the National Crime Agency (NCA) into people trafficking networks.
NCA Director-General of Operations Rob Jones said that tackling organised illegal immigration was a key priority for the agency, “and we are dedicating more effort and resource than ever before.”
“We are determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle these networks, whether they are operating in the UK or overseas.,” Jones said.
Increasing Returns
The government has also pledged “290 added immigration removals” beds at two immigration removal centres at Campsfield House in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, and Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire.
Related Stories
These centres were closed down in 2019 and 2015 respectively, but the previous Conservative government announced in 2023 that it would be redeveloping these removal units.
The decision to press ahead with the former administration’s removal centre plans comes as part of the new government’s efforts to boost returns rates for failed asylum seekers and illegal immigrants.
The home secretary said, “By increasing enforcement capabilities and returns, we will establish a system that is better controlled and managed, in place of the chaos that has blighted the system for far too long.”
According to the Home Office, ministers are aiming to achieve in the next six months “the highest rate of removals of those with no right to be here, including failed asylum seekers” since 2018, when Theresa May was prime minister.
However, immigration specialists have cast doubt on whether this would be much of an achievement.
Peter Walsh, a senior researcher at the Migration Observatory, told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme: “If we look at enforced removals, last year there were 6,000 and in 2018 there were 9,000—so this would require 3,000 more, a 50 percent increase, which sounds achievable.
“The other thing to point out is that 2018 is not a particularly high bar, apart from the pandemic that was the lowest number of enforced removals in 20 years.”
Asylum and immigration charities have also criticised the government’s plans, with James Wilson, director of Detention Action, saying, “The government’s proposal to hold even more people in detention in the UK is a disappointing step away from a fairer and more humane immigration system.”
Illegal Arrivals Top 19,000
On Monday, 203 illegal immigrants arrived in the UK by boat, taking the total number of English Channel crossings for this year to 19,294.
This is 10 percent higher than the same point in 2023, when 17,620 asylum seekers had arrived.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper leaving 10 Downing Street in London, on July 6, 2024. Tejas Sandhu/PA Wire
Speaking over the weekend on the numbers of illegal immigrants who continue to arrive on Britain’s shores, Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly said, “This new Government must urgently take action to get a grip on these ever-rising crossing numbers.”
Cleverly continued, “When Labour ditched our deterrent (the Rwanda plan) they sent a dangerous signal to the people smugglers that they were not willing to take the tough action necessary to control our borders, and the smugglers are reaping the benefits.”
Cumulative arrivals of people crossing the English Channel in small boats. PA Wire
The previous Conservative government planned to send asylum seekers who arrived illegally in the UK to Rwanda, which former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Cleverly said would act as a deterrent.
PA Media contributed to this report.
