Thibaud Hue, edited by Laura Laplaud
After having obtained an agreement with the European Union on Northern Ireland, London hardens its law against immigration. The British government introduced a bill against illegal immigration on Tuesday. The objective, to prevent migrants from entering the territory.
This Friday marks the opening of the 36th Franco-British summit, the opportunity to definitively turn the page on Brexit and perhaps to resolve the migration issue. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants a strong relationship with France. On the menu of discussions, the question of migrants who regularly try to cross the Channel. A visit that comes at a time when Britain is tightening its policy on illegal immigration.
Those who attempt the crossing will be remanded in custody.
This text plans to prohibit illegal immigrants from entering the United Kingdom and applying for asylum. Those who attempt to cross the Channel at all costs will be placed in pre-trial detention and deported within a few weeks to their own country or to a third country considered safe by the English authorities, such as Rwanda for example. Access to the territory will then be definitively refused to them, declared Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister.
“If you come here illegally, you cannot claim asylum. You cannot benefit from our modern slavery protections. You cannot make false human rights claims and you cannot not stay in the country. And this legislation will be retroactive, if you come here by a small boat today, the measures of this bill will apply to you,” he said.
45.00 migrants crossed the Channel in 2022
A highly contested bill on the side of human rights organizations which denounces an infringement of the right to asylum and an inapplicable and inhumane measure. In 2022, 45,000 migrants crossed the Channel to reach Great Britain. They are already more than 3,000 since the beginning of the year.