The UK government has introduced new plans to tackle people-smuggling, which include taking away mobile phones from migrants who arrive in the country on small boats.
Under the new Border Security Bill, border and immigration officers will have the power to make new arrivals hand over their phones when they land.
The government believes this will help them find and stop the smugglers who organize these dangerous Channel crossings. This new rule changes a previous decision by the High Court, which said that taking phones from all boat arrivals without specific permission was illegal. The court had also noted that taking phones away left people unable to contact their families or access important documents.
In addition to seizing phones, the bill also gives border officers powers similar to those used in counter-terrorism to stop and search people at ports and borders if they are suspected of being involved in smuggling. This includes searching people, taking their devices, and copying data from them.
The new measures also include banning suspected smugglers from using mobile phones to prevent them from committing more crimes. Investigators can use temporary court orders to stop suspects from using phones, laptops, and social media, even if there isn’t enough evidence to charge them yet. These orders can also restrict the suspects’ travel, financial activities, and who they can contact.
The goal of these orders is to give investigators more time to build a case while preventing further crimes. Officials think this will disrupt smuggling operations, which often rely on phones and social media to organize crossings.
Breaking these temporary orders could result in up to five years in prison. Previously, such orders were mainly used against terrorists, drug traffickers, robbers, money launderers, and fraudsters.
So far this year, 1,098 migrants have arrived in the UK on 20 small boats, averaging about 55 people per boat. Last year, 36,816 people reached the UK after being intercepted in the Channel, which is the second-highest number since records began in 2018.
