London on Sunday announced the creation of a new Border Security Command to beef up border security and “crack down on criminal people-smuggling gangs who make millions from crossing the border in small boats.”
The move, promised by the Labour Party during the election campaign, came just days after new Home Secretary Yvette Cooper won the election and took office. A statement from the Home Office said:
“Rapid recruitment for an exceptional leader used to working in complex and challenging environments — for example, at senior levels of policing, intelligence or the military — will kick off tomorrow (Monday), with the new recruit expected to take up their post in the coming weeks.”
The Border Agency Commander, to be appointed by Cooper, will “provide strategic leadership across all agencies, bringing together the National Crime Agency (NCA), intelligence, police, immigration and border force to better protect our borders and pursue smuggling gangs facilitating small boat crossings,” it said.
It said “legislation will soon be drafted to provide new counter-terrorism powers and strengthen measures to tackle organised immigration crime.”
Cooper has also “commissioned the department and the NCA to carry out a special investigation into the latest routes, methods and tactics used by smuggling gangs across Europe, with a view to a major enforcement campaign in the coming months.”
The Border Security Command as a major step change
The Home Secretary will hold further meetings this week with European interior ministers and the director general of Europol to discuss strengthening security co-operation, the statement said. Cooper said:
“Criminal smuggling gangs are making millions out of small boat crossings, undermining our border security and putting lives at risk. We can’t carry on like this. We need to tackle the root of the problem, going after these dangerous criminals and bringing them to justice. The Border Security Command will be a major step change in UK enforcement efforts to tackle organised immigration crime, drawing on substantial resources to work across Europe and beyond to disrupt trafficking networks and to coordinate with prosecutors in Europe to deliver justice.”
She also added:
“Work is underway to bring in a border security commander to lead this work – and we will begin recruitment on additional capacity in the National Crime Agency immediately.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said his government will not authorise any flights to Rwanda to receive asylum seekers from the UK. Rwanda’s controversial plan, which was legalised in the UK by the Conservative government, is under scrutiny from opposition parties and human rights organisations, with former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promising to start flights this summer if he won the election.
About 40,000 people entered the country illegally in 2023, according to the Home Ministry.
Nearly 130,000 asylum applications were received between 15 April 2023 and 14 April 2024, and 56,834 people were granted asylum with a 61% granting rate, the highest annual number of substantive asylum decisions in more than 20 years, according to the Home Office. During the same period, 36,597 applications were rejected.
