The government has announced that from tomorrow, it will impose the first wave of sanctions on gangs involved in people smuggling and driving irregular migrants to the UK.
These sanctions will also apply to those financing and enabling these gangs, with anyone complicit in facilitating people smuggling to the UK facing unprecedented repercussions.
This sanctions regime is the world’s first dedicated to targeting people smuggling and organised immigration crime, aimed at ending the exploitation of vulnerable people by criminal networks, reducing irregular migration and the deaths associated with small boat crossings, and cracking down on closely related issues regarding modern slavery.
Measures that can be undertaken under this regime include freezing property, bank accounts, and other assets that allow organised criminal gangs to facilitate irregular migration to the UK.
The government said these sanctions are designed to reach individuals located anywhere in the world and publicly name them, making it illegal for the UK financial system to engage with them and for them to travel to the country.
It added that sanctions can be used to target organised immigration crime gangs and their enablers, wherever they are, including where traditional law enforcement and criminal justice approaches cannot reach.
The first targets of the sanctions will cover a range of criminal activity, from the suppliers of small boats being used to cross the Channel, to those trading in fake passports, to middlemen facilitating payments – and of course the gang leaders themselves.
New powers for law enforcement are also being introduced in the Border, Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, providing more tools with which to crack down on people smuggling.
Since the general election, over 35,000 people have been returned after making small boat crossings, an increase of 13% on the same period in the year before.
“For too long, criminal gangs have been lining their corrupt pockets and preying on the hopes of vulnerable people with impunity as they drive irregular migration to the UK. We will not accept this status quo,” said Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
“It is our moral duty and a key part of our Plan for Change to do all we can to smash these gangs and secure Britain’s borders. “
“That’s why the UK has created the world’s first sanctions regime targeted at gangs involved in people smuggling and driving irregular migration, as well as their enablers. From tomorrow, those involved will face having their assets frozen, being shut off from the UK financial system and banned from travelling to the UK,” he said.
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