Officers get powers to seize phones from migrants getting off small boats
Officers will seize migrants’ mobile phones and Sim cards without the need to arrest them as part of Keir Starmer’s pledge to ‘crush gangs’ smuggling people across the Channel.
The power came into force days after the prime minister was hit when new figures showed 41,472 people arrived in the UK by small boat last year; This is the second highest figure in history.
On Sunday, the Labor leader announced he was stepping up initiatives to ease the crisis and ordered the Home Office to close asylum hotels ahead of the current 2029 deadline, although no new date has been set.
Officers will begin taking electronic devices from people at the Manston processing center in Kent to download data they believe will help them gather intelligence on people smugglers.
The new powers for law enforcement are designed to speed up investigations and follow the passage of Labour’s new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill into law in December.
Border Security Minister Alex Norris said: “We promised to restore order and control at our borders, which means tackling the people smuggling networks behind this deadly trade.
“This is exactly why we are implementing robust new laws with strong criminal offenses to stop, dismantle and dismantle these vile gangs faster than ever before and disrupt their supply chains.
“These operational measures sit alongside sweeping reforms to the system to make it less attractive for immigrants to come here illegally and remove and deport people more quickly.”
Last week’s official 2025 figures were 13 per cent higher than those recorded in 2024, when 36,816 migrants made the perilous journey, and 41 per cent higher than the 2023 total of 29,437 migrants. It was also just 9 percent below the 2022 all-time high of 45,774.
On Sunday, Sir Keir said Britons would start to see “evidence” of asylum hotels closing in the coming months.
Their use came to the fore this summer, with a wave of protests centered around the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, after an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK on a small boat was temporarily housed and later charged, jailed and deported for sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl.
The Prime Minister said he was “determined” to close hotels but could not give a date for when that might happen.
He told the BBC program with Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday: “I have told the system, the relevant departments, I want this to be brought forward as soon as possible, but it is no longer the end of Parliament. Bring it forward.”
“I want us to close the hotels. I think you’ll see evidence of that in the coming months.”
Sir Keir said he did not want to set a date until he was “absolutely sure we can meet that date”.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused ministers of making “cosmetic adjustments” and said it was not a deterrent to those crossing the Channel as he reiterated his party’s call for the UK to abandon the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The government’s new law also introduces new criminal offenses, including up to 14 years’ imprisonment, for storing or supplying boat engines to bring migrants to the UK via the Channel smuggling route.
Smugglers who download maps showing where to sail in small boats or research the best places to buy equipment for the boats can also face up to five years in prison.
UK Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt said the new powers to seize phones more easily were a “pivotal moment”. Since the unit was established, officers have ‘disrupted’ smuggling gangs more than 4,000 times. Including the seizure of cash and criminal convictions.
