The UK introduced the new Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill on Thursday to retain a ban on asylum seekers claiming protections under modern slavery and other human rights laws.
The bill keeps certain parts of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 (IMA) which were heavily criticized and called on to be withdrawn in a joint statement made by a coalition of 176 civil society organizations on 10 May 2023.
The proposed bill continues disqualifying asylum seekers from protection as potential victims of slavery or human trafficking by retaining section 29 of IMA. Also, the bill retains the inadmissibility of certain “human rights claims” under section 59 of IMA. A human rights claim means an individual’s claim to the Secretary of State that to remove or require a person to leave the UK would be unlawful under section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998. Furthermore, the bill proposes to remove civil legal services provided for individuals holding a removal notice under section 56 of IMA.
The bill creates new offenses for anyone who supplies or offers to supply items to aid immigration crime such as buying and selling small boat parts, by amending the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001. The bill also gives more power to law enforcement agencies such as the National Crime Agency, Immigration Enforcement, and police with measures allowing them to seize and search asylum seekers’ electronic devices to retain information (Clauses 19-26).
Enver Solomon, the Chief Executive of the Refugee Council responded to the bill by stating,
“The Government is also right to seek to tackle the vicious smuggling gangs, but we are very concerned that by creating new offenses, many refugees themselves could also be prosecuted, which has already been happening in some cases. This would be a gross miscarriage of justice.”
Additionally, Enver suggested in the statement that giving refugees a legal way to apply for asylum in the UK without crossing the Channel would be a much more effective way to address the current issue as “[refugees] are not thinking about UK laws but are simply trying to stay alive.”
The main reason for the bill is said to address the issue of small boat crossings as the common method of entering the UK since 2020. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer claimed he planned to reduce migration through legal reforms. The UK Home Office sponsors the bill and Secretary Yvette Cooper made the statement of compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights as required under section 19(1)(a) of the Human Rights Act 1998. After this First Reading stage in the House of Commons, the Members of UK Parliament (MPs) will consider the bill again at the Second Reading on 10 February 2025.
