Illegal immigration crackdown by Tories would ‘boot out 150,000 a year’

Immigration chiefs will use a network of live facial recognition cameras to detect, detain and deport illegal migrants, Chris Philp has declared. Speaking to the Daily Express at the Conservative Party Conference, the Shadow Home Secretary said a new Removals Force will boot out 150,000 failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and visa overstayers a year.

Mr Philp said a Kemi Badenoch Government would return migrants to Afghanistan and Somalia. And he would be prepared to deport Iranians – once the mullahs of Tehran have been replaced. The Conservatives have vowed to scrap controversial payments for migrants to encourage them to leave voluntarily, vowing that Britain must “seize” control of the borders again.

Labour’s migrant crisis has intensified in recent weeks, as dinghies carrying more than 100 people have been intercepted off the coast of Portsmouth. Some 149 people were brought into Gosport on Sunday night, sparking fury as the asylum seekers arrived at the home of the Royal Navy.

Two men died during another disastrous Channel migrant crossing in the early hours of Monday morning as people tried to get water and petrol out of their dinghy using shoes. A fire erupted after a petrol leak on a vessel which picked people up off the coast at Berck, south Boulogne-sur-mer.

Two women received horrific petrol burns, while two men were found dead on the inflatable boat. And migrants were using their shoes to bail water and petrol from the boat, rescue teams said.

Jean-Marc Lamblin, skipper of the Berck lifeboat, told the Voix du Nord (Voice of the North) news outlet, said: “When we arrived, we counted at least 80 people on board, and there was a terrible smell of petrol.

“The boat was overloaded, but the situation was calm to begin with. People were happy to see us arrive –the boat was under way, and they knew they were going to be escorted [to Britain].

“They were bailing out water using shoes — we’re used to that.”

Mr Lamblin continued: “At this stage of the operation, no one was asking for help. The boat was moving forward, slowly.

“However, we noticed migrants taking the babies and children away from the centre of the boat and moving them to the sides.

“There, among the people huddled in the bottom of the boat, we pulled out a young woman who had suffered severe burns to her lower body from a mixture of seawater and petrol.”

“Finally, we made one last approach. That was when we pulled out two men in cardiac arrest.” Two Somalian women aged 20 and 26 had been engulfed in flames, and one was “weeping and in a state of total panic”.

The Conservatives believe that ramping up deportations is the best way to end the Channel migrant crisis.

Mr Philp told this newspaper: “We would use technology like live facial recognition to identify people just walking down the street who shouldn’t be in the country.

“We would certainly use the whole range of government databases if people, for example, try to claim benefits who aren’t entitled to be in the country.

“We would also step up raids on places where we believe illegal working is taking place, things like car washes, things like some of these vape shops and candy stores on the high street, likely to have illegal immigrants working there.

“And if those illegal immigrants were encountered, they would be rapidly deported without endless legal processes, without endless asylum claims or modern slavery claims or human rights claims.

“By dismantling all of that legal architecture, we could deport people really quickly. The numbers being deported now on an enforced basis are simply far too low. The numbers need to be far, far higher.”

Unveiling radical reforms to the UK’s crumbling asylum system, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood offered migrant families up to £40,000 to voluntarily leave the UK. But Mr Philp vowed to end the “bribing”, adding that asylum caseworkers will be told to “make a decision very quickly”.

He said: “We shouldn’t be bribing illegal immigrants to leave, we should be requiring them to leave. And now if they know they’re going to get deported, they may well choose to leave voluntarily, but without getting paid anything.

“For those that don’t go voluntarily, it should be done using force. If for any reason that wasn’t possible, we would use a safe third country like Rwanda instead.

“But we would be prepared to send people back to countries the current Government doesn’t really send many people back to – countries like Somalia.

“We’d certainly send foreign criminals back to places like Afghanistan, as the Germans are now doing, but the British Government is not doing.”

But Mr Philp stopped short of naming Iran among the countries he would be happy to return people to. He said: “That’s why you need a safe third country just in case there is a genuine threat to somebody’s safety.

“So, if you can’t send back to the country of origin for a genuine reason, you do need somewhere else. But I would send men back to Afghanistan. I’d send people back to places like Somalia. Most claims made for asylum or protection are frankly unmeritorious, they’re not justified.”

Asked why the Tories would not deport people to Iran, Mr Philp said: “Well, 35,000 people were killed there earlier this year. As soon as we were satisfied that that threat had had gone, we certainly would send people back to Iran.

“Given 35,000 people have been killed on the streets, you would want to be a bit careful about that. But that doesn’t mean to say Iranians who are illegal immigrants or foreign criminals can stay in the UK.

“They certainly should not stay in the UK. They should instead be taken to another safe third country.”

The Tories have vowed to expand the number of foreign criminals eligible for deportation. Party strategists believe this will leave 40,000 FNOs being removed every year. And Mr Philp said this would be part of a wider strategy.

Detailing his plan to this newspaper, he said: “We would aim to have 150,000 people a year removed by Removals Force. Over a Parliament, that’s three-quarters of a million. So, the first priority would be those people arriving illegally by small boat.

“They would have to go straight away. And that would of course have a deterrent effect, because if illegal immigrants in France knew they were going to get deported, they wouldn’t bother crossing.

“Secondly, foreign criminals. There are 21,000 serious foreign criminals in the UK out on the streets, in the community, following release from prison.

“They are very often committing serious crimes, including sexual assaults, including rape. They should all be deported. Then you come on to the wider cohort of people who are in the UK illegally, people who have arrived illegally in recent years, people whose asylum claims have failed.”