UK's new Labour govt to admit as many as 60,000 illegal immigrants, says report

The United Kingdom will admit as many as 60,000 illegal immigrants under new immigration plans of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, according to a report.

One of the first decisions of the new British government of Starmer was to scrap the Rwanda deportation plan announced by the previous Conservative government. Under the plan enacted by the then-PM Boris Johnson, illegal immigrants would be sent to the African nation of Rwanda where their asylum clams would be processed.

Now, Starmer’s Labour government is set to fast-track asylum applications of around 90,000 illegal immigrants, according to The Sun.

The newspaper further reported that around 60,000 of these applications are predicted to be accepted.

The Rwanda plan had become a volatile issue towards the end of Rishi Sunak’s premiership. Even as he maintained that the plan was a must to prevent illegal crossings through the English Channel, the plan could never take off as it was embroiled in legal challenges. Now, the new Labour government is expected to use loopholes in the law to fast-track applications of illegal entrants into the country.

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Of the 90,000 illegal immigrants previously under the Rwanda plan, several had taken the government to the court.

Now, Starmer’s government is set to process the claims of these challengers “as a priority”, according to The Sun.

There is, however, a catch. The newspaper reported that the British government will first process claims from ‘safe’ countries, such as France or India, as these claims are likely to be rejected, paving way for the claimants to be deported.

Starmer has slammed Rwanda plan as ineffective

Upon taking office, Starmer announced that the Rwanda deportation plan was “dead and buried”.

For the past many years, the UK has been facing a severe illegal immigration crisis under which people cross the English Channel on small boats and enter the country. During January-June, 13,195 entered the UK in this manner, which was above the average for the period in the past four years, as per BBC.

The report further said that around 120,000 illegal immigrants have entered the UK in this manner since 2018.

Despite the extent of the issue, Starmer called the deportation plan a “gimmick”. He dismissed the plan as a solution and said it would address less than 1 per cent of illegal immigrant who cross the English Channel.

“Look at the numbers that have come over in the first six and a bit months of this year, they are record numbers, that is the problem that we are inheriting. It’s had the complete opposite effect and I’m not prepared to continue with gimmicks that don’t act as a deterrent,” said Starmer, as per the report.

Even as Starmer has not yet outlined a clear alternative, the Labour’s election manifesto said the party’s government would use counter-terrorism powers to “smash” the criminal networks that smuggle illegal immigrants into the UK through the English Channel.