As part of the new Labour government’s commitment to combat illegal migration and people smuggling gangs, UK immigration enforcement teams made over 600 arrests in January, a 73% rise compared to the same month last year, officials said on Monday.
According to a government statement, the 609 arrests—up from 352 in January 2024—took place during visits to more than 800 establishments, including convenience stores, restaurants, nail salons, and car washes.
When Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer took office last year, he promptly abandoned the idea of his Conservative predecessor, Rishi Sunak, to deport new arrivals to Rwanda in order to discourage undocumented migration to the UK.
Instead, he promised to “smash the gangs” in order to reduce the numbers.
Employers have been allowed to “exploit illegal migrants and too many people have been able to arrive and work illegally with no enforcement action ever taken,” according to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
“We are boosting enforcement to record levels alongside tough new legislation to smash the criminal gangs that undermine our border security and who have been getting away with it for far too long,” she said.
One of the main issues at last July’s general election, which saw Starmer’s Labour Party win power, was the undocumented movement of people from northern France to southern England via tiny, dangerous boats over the English Channel.
Another contentious topic at the polls was regular migration, which is now taking place at historically high rates—728,000 for the year ending June 2024, according to estimates.
In order to counteract the surging popularity of Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party, which received over four million votes in the July 4 poll—an extraordinary number for a far-right party—Starmer must cut back on both legal and undocumented migration.
According to preliminary data from the interior ministry, 36,816 individuals were found in the Channel in 2024, a 25% rise over the 29,437 who entered in 2023.
Starmer has also established a new Border Security Command and bolstered collaboration with European partners, including Europol, as part of his strategy to decrease undocumented migration.
In an effort to combat the smuggling gangs, Britain has inked cooperative action plans with Germany and Iraq. They expand upon prior accords, such as those with France and Albania, which had been concluded during the previous Conservative administration.
Additionally, the government reports that the number of irregular migrants returning to their home countries has increased, reaching its highest level since 2017.
Monday is the second reading of its new Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill, which would provide law enforcement officers “counter-terror style powers” to disband gangs that are transporting undocumented people across the Channel.
