Beauty salons and car washes to be targeted in illegal immigration blitz as Home Secretary redeploys Rwanda scheme staff
21 July 2024, 11:24
Home secretary Yvette Cooper is planning to tackle illegal immigration by targeting car washes and the beauty sector.
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Ms Cooper is set to bring in a team of more than 1,000 staff to intensify operations and track the moves of asylum seekers.
They are being redeployed from working on the abandoned Rwanda scheme from the previous government.
The crack down will target migrants from countries such as Vietnam, as they are now the largest group attempting to cross the Channel but unlikely to be given asylum.
“We cannot pretend everything is OK," Ms Cooper told the Sun on Sunday.
“Not when criminal gangs are making millions out of dangerous small boat crossings that undermine our border security and put lives at risk.”
The Home Secretary said Immigration Enforcement would focus on targeting employers who are driving criminal gangs and illegal working in the UK, citing industries such as ‘car washes’ and the ‘beauty sector’.
The move comes after at least 15,489 people have crossed the Channel in small boats this year. The total number may have now exceeded 15,500, following further arrivals on Saturday.
Read more: James Cleverly debates Yvette Cooper on immigration | Watch Again
“Most people in this country want to see a properly controlled and managed asylum system, where Britain does its bit to help those fleeing conflict and persecution, but where those who have no right to be in the country are swiftly removed.”
She added: “We are drawing up new plans for fast track decisions and returns for safe countries.”
It comes after the new Labour government, led by Sir Keir Starmer, cancelled the Rwanda scheme shortly after winning the general election.
Border security is a key priority for Labour, with the government already starting to lay the foundations for the Border Security Command.
The migration crisis was also a key topic for the Prime Minister in the European Political Community summit, which took place on 18 July. The PM said that he would consider offshore processing arrangements.
He also cited strategies such as increasing the UK’s presence at Europol, cementing new cooperation agreements with Slovenia and Slovakia to crack down on organised crime, and a pledge to share more intelligence “to put the gangs out of business.”
