'Enough is Enough': Braverman Launches Illegal Migration Bill With Blast at Labour
13:37 GMT 07.03.2023 (Updated: 15:26 GMT 28.05.2023)
© AP Photo / Matt Dunham / Illegal immigrants trafficked from France in small boats and were picked up in the Channel, wait to be disembarked from a British border force vessel in Dover
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Home Secretary Suella Braverman said three-quarters of those claiming political asylum after crossing the English Channel in small boats were men under 40 with enough money to pay people-traffickers, and said immigration law was no longer "fit for purpose".
Britain's home secretary has unveiled new legislation to deport illegal immigrants trafficked across the English channel with no right of appeal.
Suella Braverman told Parliament the Illegal Migration Bill would honor Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's pledge of "no half measures" in dealing with illegal immigration and people-trafficking.
To jeers from the opposition benches, she said the system had to be humane but stressed that "people are dying in the channel" on overloaded traffickers' boats.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman says that the Illegal Migration Bill will "allow us to stop the boats that are bringing tens of thousands to our shores"https://t.co/JPUIhiJ4cm pic.twitter.com/GrN1LofgQz
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) March 7, 2023
"Since 2018, some 85,000 people illegally entered the UK by small boat — 45,000 of them in 2022 alone," she said, stressing that "All travelled through multiple safe countries in which they could and should have claimed asylum."
Many of those immigrants were from the peaceful European nation of Albania or had come through through France, and the "vast majority" — 74 percent in 2021 — were adult males under 40, "rich enough to pay criminal gangs thousands of pounds for passage."
"In the face of today’s global migration crisis, yesterday’s laws are simply not fit for purpose," Braverman insisted.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman says that the Illegal Migration Bill will "allow us to stop the boats that are bringing tens of thousands to our shores"https://t.co/JPUIhiJ4cm pic.twitter.com/GrN1LofgQz
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) March 7, 2023
Braverman said the deadly trade in human misery would not end "until the world knows that if you enter Britain illegally, you will be detained and swiftly removed."
She confirmed that those arriving illegally would be deported to their homeland or a "third country," including Rwanda. However, those under 18, medically unfit to fly or at risk of serious harm if deported would be allowed to stay.
In addition, the government would put an annual limit on the number of refugees and asylum-seekers the UK will accept through "safe and legal routes."
She said illegal immigrants were abusing human rights legislation to stay in the UK after being caught, adding: "That's why this bill disqualifies illegal entrants from using modern slavery rules to prevent removal."
Responding to earlier reports that the legislation would "push the boundaries" of existing treaty commitments, Braverman insisted she was "confident that this bill is compatible with international law" as "Some of the nation’s finest legal minds have been – and continue to be - involved in its development."
"The law-abiding patriotic majority have said: Enough is enough," Braverman said. "This cannot and will not continue. Their government — this government — must act decisively."
7 March 2023, 11:47 GMT
Labour Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Conservative government's plans were "Groundhog Day," repeating pledges by previous home secretaries. She accused the Tories of allowing trafficking gangs to flourish along the coast and pledged her party would act decisively to stop the stream of small boat arrivals.
Braverman responded that "after five minutes of hysteria, histrionics and criticism... I've got no idea what Labour's plan is," accusing the strident opponent of Brexit of wanting unlimited immigration "by the back door." She pointed out that many Labour MPs had opposed deportations of illegal immigrants and foreign residents convicted of crimes.
"Labour are against deterring people who would come here illegally. They are against deporting people who are here illegally," the home secretary charged. "If the people want closed minds and open borders, they can rely on Labour."
