Britain’s new immigration minister Caroline Nokes has announced an initiative to shut down illegal migrant bank accounts as part of a “tough” package of measures.
“When it comes to those who are living and working in this country illegally, this government is clear: we expect them to leave voluntarily and we’ve already brought in a number of measures to encourage this,” she writes — as if to suggest that this is just as tough as forcibly deporting illegal migrants.
Other measures she describes include making it harder for illegal migrants to obtain legitimate employment, renting accommodation legally, obtaining driving licences, or work as private hire vehicle and taxi drivers and operators.
“The purpose of these provisions is to make it difficult for illegal migrants, who do not have immigration leave to enter or remain in the UK, to live a settled life in the UK, and to encourage them to return home,” Nokes concludes.
While the article is clearly intended to give the impression that Theresa May’s government intends to get serious about illegal immigration, announcing measures requiring private banks to police migrant bank accounts in order to “encourage” voluntary self-deportation may not satisfy voters who believe they should be taking robust action to detain and deport foreigners who are in the country illegally.
Lucy Moreton, a top trade union official for UK Border Force, recently made a shock admission that if you are a migrant in the UK illegally “you can survive very well, you access medical services your child can go to school the chances of us catching you are very, very slim”.
She added: “If you don’t break the law we are not going to get you as we don’t have the resources. We can’t catch you.”
Even migrants who do break the law are often not successfully deported, with Home Secretary Amber Rudd admitting that of 56,000 migrants in line for deportation that her department has lost track of, some 700 are ex-convict Foreign National Offenders (FNOs).
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