UK announces clampdown on illegal immigration

 

        

                          Prime Minister Rishi Sunak .

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday announced to clamp down on illegal immigration, with a promise to end the government’s backlog of asylum applications by the end of next year.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a new five-point strategy for dealing with illegal immigration, including plans to fast-track the return of Albanian asylum seekers, and clearing the initial backlog of almost 150,000 asylum cases by the end of next year by doubling the number of caseworkers.

“If you enter the UK illegally you should not be able to remain here,” Sunak told parliament. “Instead, you will be detained and swiftly returned either to your home country or to a safe country where your asylum claim will be considered.”

Migrants arriving on small boats has become a major political issue for the Conservative government, particularly in working-class areas in the north and central England, where migrants are blamed for making it harder to find work and stretching public services.

Sunak said a new unit would be created to tackle crossings, and that in future migrants would be housed in disused holiday parks, former student accommodation and surplus military sites rather than hotels.

Britain’s interior minister, Home Secretary Suella Braverman, recently called the wave of arrivals an “invasion” and described many of the migrants as “criminals,”