UK charities say 'most vulnerable' will get caught up in government's new immigration plan

Refugee charities have slammed the UK government’s controversial new measures to tackle immigration and asylum seekers as "militarised", saying the actions and rhetoric of the Home Office risks fuelling divisions and punishing those most in need of help.

The Home Office announced on Wednesday plans to crack down on people arriving in small boats to the UK's shores, which includes a new investigation and intelligence unit, expanding detention centres for failed asylum seekers, and "smashing criminal smuggling gangs".

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government aims to increase the removal rate for those who have had asylum claims rejected to "their highest level since 2018".

It comes after riots hit the UK earlier this month, largely fuelled by anti-immigration sentiments with two hotels hosting asylum seekers targeted by mobs.

Thousands of people arrive in the UK each year via a small boat, often from war-torn countries in the Middle East and Asia, as well as those facing political, religious or ethnic persecution.

Refugee charities said that the government’s new plan has failed to create safe routes for those seeking asylum, and the measures would not stop those in need from coming to the UK.

Charity Refugee Action which supports asylum seekers in the UK said it was "disappointing" to see the government focusing on criminality while neglecting to offer a positive vision for people seeking asylum.

Tim Naor Hilton, Chief Executive of Refugee Action, told The New Arab that the government must focus on "creating an anti-racist asylum system that respects people’s rights, lifts the ban on work, and houses people in dignity in our communities".

"Once again, the people most likely to get caught up in these detain-and-deport policies will be from racialised communities and from countries that were once British colonies."

Stopping small boat arrivals and reducing immigration was one of the Labour Party’s key manifesto pledges when it won the 4 July election in a landslide victory.

For years, immigration has been a flagship political issue of successive Conservative-led governments who have continuously  pledged to reduce numbers, which has placed refugees at the forefront of political debate.

Steve Valdez-Symonds refugee and migrant rights programme director at Amnesty International UK said the government was "promoting an age-old message of fear and hostility regarding some of the most victimised and traumatised people".

Valdez-Symonds told The Guardian that the "'securitised' approach" will punish many of those most in need of asylum, the "people who are therefore often most vulnerable to criminal exploitation".

Afghan, Syrian, Iranian, and Pakistani are among the most common nationalities for asylum seekers in the UK.

Labour’s plan aims to replace a ditched policy of the Conservative government to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda – a policy that human rights groups widely opposed.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to prioritise the arrest of smuggling groups, who were often paid thousands of dollars by individuals attempting the dangerous sea crossing.

More than 19,000 people have arrived in the UK on small boats from France via the English Channel so far this year, a higher figure than during the same period last year but below the level of 2022.

More than 20 people are known to have died while attempting the crossing, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

One of the government’s plans, to increase capacity at removal centres for those whose claims have been rejected, has prompted concern after the chief prisons inspector warned that living conditions at the centres had deteriorated and that they were not suitable for vulnerable people.

Carla Denyer leader of the minority left-wing Green Party said that it was "shocking" to hear that closed detention centres would be reopened.

"Labour must end the cruel widespread use of immigration detention centres, and open safe routes to sanctuary," Denyer wrote in a post on X on Wednesday.

The measures announced as ways to "boost Britain’s border security" will also penalise employers who hire workers without permits and see 100 new investigators added to the National Crime Agency to track people smuggling operations.

The UK government works with French border control teams and European enforcement agencies, such as Europol, to track people smugglers who can operate across borders and have been linked to operations as far away as Turkey and North Africa.