Revealed: How the new Labour Government will tackle the Channel migrant crisis
The Home Secretary has ordered a probe into the "latest routes, methods and tactics" used by the organised criminals.
More British investigators and spies will be based in Europe to hunt down migrant smuggling gangs, Yvette Cooper has revealed.
The Home Secretary has ordered a probe into the “latest routes, methods and tactics” used by the organised criminals.
Former immigration chief Kevin Saunders warned as many as 60,000 migrants could cross the Channel this year because Keir Starmer has scrapped the Rwanda plan – the “only deterrent” preventing them from crossing.
But the Home Office on Sunday night declared work to hire hundreds more investigators, immigration crime experts and analysts will begin on Monday.
Officials confirmed “a significant number of these will be based across Europe”, working alongside European police forces and Europol.
Ms 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.
“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.”
Sources have told the Daily Express that Ms Cooper’s team is hoping MI5 intelligence officers will treat people smugglers like foreign spies and terrorists.
This could see them bug smugglers' phones and trace their movements, this newspaper understands.
Ms Cooper has ordered the review into how the gangs operate because she believes there are more opportunities to disrupt the criminals.
Intelligence has been gathered on how they operate, where they are based, the routes they take and how they communicate with migrants hoping to cross the Channel.
And utilising this information could give MI5 and the National Crime Agency more opportunities to infiltrate or disrupt the gangs before they reach the French coast.
Counter-terror powers will also be extended to cover organised immigration crime, including the power to search people suspected of being involved in people smuggling, close bank accounts, restrict their travel and trace their movements before an offence has taken place.
New legislation is being drawn up, the Home Office confirmed on Sunday night.
But Kevin Saunders, who led Border Force teams in Calais, urged Ms Cooper to convince Paris to deploy the Gendarmes Maritime to “intercept and return” small boats.
Mr Saunders warned the scrapping of the Rwanda deportation scheme has delighted those hoping to cross the Channel.
Former immigration chief Kevin Saunders told the Daily Express: "The situation on the Channel has now reached a new crisis with the change of government. The only deterrent on the table is gone.
"If we are to have any chance of stopping the boats, we need to make the UK into a less attractive place for migrants to come to. We now have an extra 52,000 would-be asylum seekers to deal with.
"The new Home Secretary must immediately open talks with France about action to prevent small boats leaving French territorial waters. This would mean that the French would deploy the Gendarmerie Maritime onto the Channel to intercept and return any small boats that left France."
He added: "There's been a lot of unease in the camps in northern France about the Rwanda scheme. They were very, very worried. And we saw people fleeing to the Republic of Ireland because they didn't want to be included in it.
"Now, of course, we're seeing that the Kurds over in northern France have come up with a name for Kier, which they which I think means "the friendly one", because they all believe that he's going to be very good for illegal migration."
More than 13,500 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, up 18 per cent on last year.
The number of small boat arrivals in the first six months of this year was a record high, prompting renewed fears the crisis will continue for years.
A surge in crossings is expected this week if the weather calms down.
Lucy Moreton of the ISU union that represents Border Force staff said: “The boats will come and numbers are likely to continue rising.
“There are a large number of people in France wanting to make that crossing. The demand is there and there’s no suggestion that it will stop any time soon.”
Ben Brindle, a researcher at the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory, warned that the ever-shifting networks of smugglers responsible for organising Channel crossings have become resilient to attempted crackdowns.
He added: “The gangs are decentralised – there’s not some big boss you can smash.
“The Conservative government was also very hot on enforcement, so it’s not a new direction. Labour say they’ll do it more effectively but it’s not clear how that would happen and what it would look like.”
Mr Saunders added: "The trouble is (the PM) is being very negative about Rwanda. Well, that's fine.
“He's bound to be. "But we don't have anything from him about how they're going to stop the boats. It's going to be open season.
“And I reckon that we're looking at between 50 and 60,000 coming across the channel this year."
