Illegal migrants are using social media to plot their way into the UK
New data published by the Home Office shows that approximately 80% of migrants arriving via small boat report using social media during their journey to the UK.
This includes responding to adverts for illegal journeys and communicating with smuggling gangs.
The Home Office said it was now working with counterparts from the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand – collectively known as the Five Eyes – to pool resources and strengthen joint operational frameworks to stop these posts and clamp down on organised crime.
Spearheaded by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), this action aims to detect, disrupt, and deter individuals who facilitate people smuggling through advertising or act as agents for organised smuggling networks.
Since December 2021, the NCA said it has identified and removed over 23,000 posts, pages, or accounts promoting organised immigration crime across online platforms, with more than 8,000 taken down in the past year alone – a 40% increase compared to the previous year.
Newly appointed Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has pledged to combat these gangs and has further threatened to take away visa access from countries that refuse to accept returned migrants.
“Abuse of our immigration system is a serious threat to public safety – and it is one we are confronting alongside our closest allies,” she said.
“This announcement sends a clear message to anyone seeking to undermine our border security. If you have no legal right to remain in the UK, we will deport you. If countries refuse to take their citizens back, we will take action.
“The reset of relationships with our international partners under this government, as part of the Plan for Change, is bearing fruit, with returns and disruption of criminal networks up since July last year. Now, we must go further.”
