Asylum seekers who refuse rescue in Channel may face five-year jail terms
Asylum seekers who refuse rescue in Channel may face five-year jail terms
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Bill introduced to parliament includes new offences hoped to disrupt small boat crossings by targeting people smugglers. People seeking asylum on small boats who refuse to be rescued by the French authorities could receive sentences of up to five years under a new law meant to disrupt irregular Channel crossings.
A bill introduced to parliament will also allow people smugglers to be jailed for up to 14 years for handling small boat parts, and will strengthen police powers to seize laptops, financial assets and mobile phones from suspected smugglers. The new powers, included within the border security, asylum and immigration bill, are inspired by powers used to combat terrorism, officials have said. It is understood that the Home Office is targeting “hundreds not thousands” of gang members believed to be responsible for the cross-Channel trafficking route.
Refugee groups have criticised the new powers, saying they would criminalise legitimate asylum seekers who are forced to help gangs while en route to the UK and could make the cross-Channel route more dangerous. They have also expressed concern that the new bill maintains some of the draconian powers introduced by the last Conservative government, such as curbing the use of modern slavery laws by asylum seekers and powers to impose a cap on the number of asylum seekers allowed to settle in the UK.
Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “We are very concerned that by creating new offences, many refugees themselves could also be prosecuted, which has already been happening in some cases. This would be a gross miscarriage of justice.
