Latest news with #irregular-migration
Bloomberg
21-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
UK to Freeze Assets of Financiers Involved in People Smuggling
By The UK will freeze the properties and bank accounts of financiers that the government says are facilitating people-smuggling, as it introduces a new sanctions regime to stem the flow of irregular migration. Dozens of individuals and companies, spanning gang leaders, those trading fake passports and firms selling small boat equipment used to cross the channel from France to Britain, will be targeted by sanctions when they are imposed on Wednesday, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office said late Monday in a statement. They will be publicly named, making it illegal for the UK financial system to engage with them, the government said.
Associated Press
21-07-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
The UK says it will sanction those who enable migrant journeys across the English Channel
LONDON (AP) — Members of people-smuggling gangs who send migrants across the English Channel in flimsy boats will face U.K. financial sanctions under measures announced Monday by the British government. The U.K. said the new powers target smugglers and those who supply them with money and equipment. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the measures are 'the world's first sanctions regime targeted at gangs involved in people smuggling and driving irregular migration, as well as their enablers.' Those in breach of the rules can have U.K. assets seized, be barred from using British banks and be banned from entering Britain. The first sanctions under the new powers are due to be announced on Wednesday, the Foreign Office said. The government said the new rules are authorized by existing sanctions legislation. British lawmakers won't get a chance to debate them until they return from a summer break in September. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party government has pledged to stop criminal gangs sending thousands of migrants each year on perilous journeys across one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Starmer has said the crime gangs are a threat to global security and should be treated like terror networks. It's unclear how effective the measures will be, since British authorities can only freeze assets that are in the United Kingdom, and most of the smugglers are based elsewhere. Sanctions are one tool in an arsenal of measures that includes beefed-up U.K. border surveillance and increased law-enforcement cooperation with France and other countries. So far the moves have had little impact. Some 37,000 people crossed the channel in 2024, and more than 22,000 so far in 2025 – an increase of about 50% from the same period last year. Dozens of people have died attempting the journey.
Reuters
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
UK launches sanctions regime targeting people-smuggling gangs
LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - Britain on Monday launched a new sanctions regime targeting people-smuggling gangs and their enablers in what the government said was the first move of its kind globally. The United Kingdom will be able to freeze assets, impose travel bans and block access to the country's financial system for individuals and entities involved in enabling irregular migration, without relying on criminal or counterterrorism laws. The regime was previously outlined by foreign minister David Lammy in January. The British government said it would complement new powers in the Border, Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill that has yet to be enacted. The Labour government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under pressure to meet a pledge to stop the flow of tens of thousands of people into Britain from across the Channel in small boats. "For too long, criminal gangs have been lining their corrupt pockets and preying on the hopes of vulnerable people with impunity as they drive irregular migration to the UK," British foreign minister David Lammy said in a statement. " That's why the UK has created the world's first sanctions regime targeted at gangs involved in people smuggling and driving irregular migration, as well as their enablers." The government said the measures would target those who supply small boats, fake documents and financial services used by smuggling networks. Chris Philp, in charge of the security and immigration portfolio in parliament for the main opposition Conservatives, said in a statement that it would take more to stop the crossings. "The truth is you don't stop the Channel crossings by freezing a few bank accounts in Baghdad or slapping a travel ban on a dinghy dealer in Damascus," he said. "Swathes of young men are arriving daily, in boats bought online, guided by traffickers who laugh at our laws and cash in on our weakness." Starmer has recently agreed deals with France and Germany to help stop the arrival of small boats as he tries to stem the rise of the right-wing populist Reform UK party, led by Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage.
