European partners will be urged to join up with the UK's
pioneering efforts to smash the business model of people
smugglers to help tackle irregular migration.
The Foreign Secretary will press partners at the
Munich Security Conference to replicate Britain's world-first
plans for a sanctions regime aimed squarely at organised
immigration crime gangs and their networks.
On the first day of the conference (today), the Foreign Secretary
met Vice President of the US J.D. Vance. They discussed the
importance of the special relationship, the war in Ukraine, their
shared commitment to NATO and AUKUS, and building on our strong
trade which already delivers growth and jobs for millions.
The UK and Italy will co-host a migration roundtable on the
second day of conference, gathering representatives from The
Netherlands, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Germany and others to
promote the use of innovative tools to tackle migrant smuggling
and organised immigration crime.
The UK's plans to freeze the assets of and slap travel bans on
smugglers who facilitate the deadly trade in people will help to
cripple people-smuggling crime rings and starve them of illicit
finance fuelling their operations, delivering on the government's
commitment to secure borders.
The Government is targeting irregular migration through a
‘whole-of-route' approach, tackling both smugglers and the
drivers of migration – such as limited opportunities in would-be
migrants' region.
A new £8m funding package announced today will give more people
in East Africa an alternative to making perilous journeys to the
UK in small boats by boosting access to education alongside
employment opportunities across the region.
This programme has already helped to deliver entrepreneurship
training to over 650 would-be and returned migrants in Ethiopia
and Kenya, enabling many of them to set up their own businesses
in their home countries, rather than migrating further
afield.
Foreign Secretary, said:
“Criminal gangs enabling irregular migration are a national
security threat across Europe. We must deliver on our mandate to
smash the gangs, secure this country's borders and deliver the
Plan for Change.
“Only by working together with our neighbours will we take
the wind out of their sails and degrade the appalling trade in
people.
“We must also target the root causes of migration, which is
why we are boosting opportunities across Eastern Africa – making
people less likely to travel to the UK in the first place.”
This will further boost this government's progress on irregular
migration. Nearly 19,000 failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals
and other immigration offenders have been returned since the
election to countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and South
America following a major escalation in immigration enforcement
by the Home Office.
The government's success in ramping up removals is a key part of
our Plan for Change to deliver on working people's priorities and
finally restoring order to the asylum system. This new approach
focusses on breaking the business model of smuggling gangs
through tougher law enforcement powers than ever before, rapidly
removing those who are here illegally and ending the false
promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats.
Following a drive from this government to have more deployable
enforcement staff, a renewed crackdown on those attempting to
undermine the UK's borders last month saw the highest January in
over half a decade for enforcement activity.
Throughout January alone, Immigration Enforcement teams descended
on 828 premises, including nail bars, convenience stores,
restaurants and car washes, marking a 48% rise compared to the
previous January. Arrests also surged to 609, demonstrating a 73%
increase from just 352 the previous year.
