‘Europe is NOT a warzone’: Priti Patel vows ‘boomerang’ deportations for migrants who are smuggled through illegal routes in huge asylum overhaul – as more men, women and children are plucked from dinghies in the Channel by Border Force today
- Home Secretary Priti Patel will today unveil major overhaul of the asylum system
- New scheme will see asylum rights slashed for migrants who arrive in UK illegally
- Will be ‘two-tier’ designed to stop people arriving in UK via unauthorised routes
Priti Patel will today unveil a major overhaul of the UK’s asylum system which will include ‘boomerang’ deportations of migrants who arrive in the country illegally.
The Home Secretary said the changes will help ‘create safe and legal routes to give people the chance to resettle and access our asylum’ while also combatting people smuggling and dangerous Channel crossings.
Defending the need to toughen up the system, Ms Patel said the European countries many migrants travel through to reach the UK are ‘not war zones’.
She said many people could launch ‘perfectly acceptable’ asylum claims in the likes of France and Germany.
Her comments came as UK Border Force today brought more people ashore as a result of small boat crossings in the Channel, with 800 people estimated to have made the crossing so far this year.
The overhaul will see Ms Patel introduce a ‘two-tier’ system which will slash the right of migrants who arrive in the UK illegally.
A young family amongst a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, by Border Force officers following a small boat incident in the Channel today
Priti Patel said changes will help ‘create safe and legal routes to give people the chance to resettle and access our asylum’ while also combatting people smuggling and dangerous Channel crossings
People who come via unauthorised routes – such as crossing the Channel in small boats – will be given far fewer privileges.
Even if they have a legitimate claim to refugee status, migrants who arrive illegally will be granted permission to stay in this country only temporarily. They will be barred from claiming most welfare benefits.
And their ability to bring relatives here to join them, currently permitted under ‘family reunification’ rights, will be curtailed.
At the same time, efforts to remove Channel migrants who could have claimed asylum in safe countries they travelled through – such as France – will be stepped up.
By comparison, successful asylum seekers who applied in advance to come here through legal routes, such as the United Nations’ refugee agency, will be rewarded.
They will win permission to come to Britain immediately and will be allowed to stay here indefinitely. The Home Secretary will unveil full details later today of the biggest shake-up of the asylum system for a generation.
The Sun reported the proposals will also include proposals for ‘boomerang’ deportations which will see people arriving on UK beaches being sent within 24 hours to facilities outside the EU to have their claims processed.
Refugee charities claim many migrants have no choice but to come here by illegal routes and have slammed the proposals as ‘inhumane’.
Ms Patel told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We are unable as a country right now to fully help people that are fleeing persecution and are destitute in the world because of the extent of illegal migration that is taking place where people are putting their lives at risk and also fuelling criminality.
‘Whether it is buying fake passports or even paying your way to come to the United Kingdom through a safe country – France, Germany, Italy – through the back of a lorry or even in a small boat.’
Asked to confirm that the changes will effectively result in a two tier system based on how migrants arrive in the UK, Ms Patel replied: ‘We will bring in changes to the system where we effectively create safe and legal routes to give people the chance to resettle and access our asylum system, those that are fleeing persecution.’
Told that critics believe it is unfair to differentiate based on method arrival because many people arriving via unauthorised routes will still have strong asylum claims, Ms Patel said: ‘Well, they would also have a perfectly acceptable case to be given asylum in the same countries that they have travelled from, so France, Germany, Italy, Belgium.
‘These are not war zones, they are safe countries, and it is important to emphasise that, they are absolutely playing into the hands of the people smugglers.’