British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on March 7 new legislation targeting migrants arriving to the U.K. by small boats. The new law prevents people arriving through unofficial routes from claiming asylum in the U.K. The law also means that migrants would get detained and removed from the U.K. 

Britain left the E.U. in 2016 with the hope that the move would end illegal immigration to its land. However, the various governments that followed Brexit failed to deliver on that promise.

Nearly 45,000 people crossed the English Channel in 2022.

PM Sunak has made stopping migrants arriving by boats one of his five top priorities. Sunak’s Conservative Party is trailing the Labor opposition by 20% in the polls. Their hope is that a hardline migration policy would help them recover some of their popularity.

The new proposed policy would prevent illegal migrants from claiming asylum in the U.K. It would also mean the U.K. government could remove them from the country. 

The U.N. refugee agency has expressed concerns about the proposal.

The U.K. government acknowledged that the legislation could face legal challenges.

The proposal may not be compatible with the U.K.’s obligations on human rights.

Charities have cautioned against criminalizing the efforts of genuine refugees.

Clare Moseley, Founder of Care4Calais told Reuters “If they were trying to stop people crossing in small boats and stop people smugglers, there is a much more effective way to do that, which would be to give safe passage to refugees in Calais.” She added “then that would remove 90 percent of the people smugglers' profits in one fell swoop. And we have precedent for this because we gave safe passage to Ukrainians.”

Less than two-thirds of migrants arriving by small boats to the U.K. are granted asylum. Many of those migrants have made the journey from Syria, Afghanistan, or another war-torn country.

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