Starting Monday, UK authorities will use new counter-terror-style powers to confiscate the phones and SIM cards of migrants arriving by small boats from northern France.
The move targets criminal networks facilitating the dangerous Channel crossings.
The initiative, part of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s strategy to reduce migrant arrivals, comes amid growing support for Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration party, Reform UK.
Last year, over 41,000 people crossed the Channel, the second-highest total on record since 2018.
Confiscations will occur at the Manston processing centre near Ramsgate, southeast England. Under the new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, seizures can be made without arrests.
Authorities hope the measures will allow them to access migrants’ contacts, maps, and other information to disrupt smuggling networks and prosecute ringleaders.
Border Security Minister Alex Norris said, “We promised to restore order and control to our borders, which means taking on the people smuggling networks behind this deadly trade.
These robust new laws will intercept, disrupt and dismantle these vile gangs faster than ever before.”
Charities have condemned the legislation as anti-refugee, arguing it criminalises those seeking safety. Refugee Action described it as “another attack on rights.”
Opposition Conservative spokesperson Chris Philp dismissed the measures as cosmetic and urged the government to address the root issue by leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.
The law also introduces new criminal offences, including storing or supplying boat engines for migrant crossings, punishable by up to 14 years in jail.
Other proposals include making refugee status temporary with reviews every 30 months, and extending the wait for permanent residency from five years to as long as 10–30 years, modeled after Denmark’s strict asylum system.
Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood called the measures “the most significant changes to our asylum system in modern times.”
AFP