Suella Braverman speaks during a statement on the Illegal Immigration Act at the House of Commons, London March 7, 2023. UK PARLIAMENT PARLIAMENT/ANDY BAILEY/HANDOUT VIA Portal
The Illegal Immigration Bill, introduced on Tuesday March 7, is not the first attempt by a British Conservative government to stop the phenomenon of migrants’ inflatable boats crossing the English Channel, but it is probably the most controversial attempt to date. Home Secretary Suella Braverman has tabled this new text in the House of Commons, making it possible to deny anyone arriving on the Kent coast in a dinghy the right to seek asylum in the UK – the Department recorded 45,000 crossings via these fragile boats in 2022 The text raises many moral, legal and practical questions.
With the exception of minors and the critically ill, those arriving will be held and then either sent back to their country of origin if it is ‘safe’, or to a third country also deemed ‘safe’ by London, such as Rwanda, to which the UK has one already Signed highly controversial deal to outsource its asylum claims in 2022. Attempts to invoke protective laws – for example the UK’s “Anti-Modern Slavery” Act – will not be considered until the person is expelled.
“It is unfair that people who have traveled through a number of safe countries and then arrived in the UK illegally are abusing our asylum system. This has to stop,” said Suella Braverman, who, despite being the daughter of immigrants of Indian descent, has become an advocate of perceived anti-migrant policies and has been regularly criticized by Labor and the NGO for her provocative rhetoric – she did described the arrival of inflatable boats in 2022 as an “invasion”.
Also Read: More than 45,000 Channel Crossings Aboard Makeshift Vessels in 2022
The bill is “tough but necessary,” Rishi Sunak said at a press conference on Tuesday. The British Conservative Prime Minister, also of Indian descent, who is considered moderate, has nonetheless made the fight against Channel crossings one of his priorities. He is responding to an urgent plea from elected officials in his camp, concerned that one of Brexit’s key promises (“to regain control” of borders) has not been kept. In fact, crossings have increased by more than twenty in four years (less than 1,900 crossings were counted in 2019).
The Chair hopes that migration will be one of the main themes at the Franco-British Summit in Paris on Friday 10th March. Unlike the French, who after years of tensions exacerbated by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s excesses, would rather insist on a moment of reconciliation – the first of its kind since 2018.
You still have 57.21% of this article to read. The following is for subscribers only.