BORDER FORCE TO GET NEW POWERS TO TAKE MIGRANTS’ CLOTHES OFF THEM
Law enforcement officers will be able to order illegal migrants to remove their clothes under new powers to search them and seize their phones, electronic devices or SIM cards.
Border Force, immigration, police and National Crime Agency (NCA) officers will be empowered to require illegal migrants to remove an outer coat, jacket or gloves but not clothes below that.
They will also be able to conduct searches inside someone’s mouth for a hidden SIM card or small electronic device under the powers which are set to get royal assent this week.
Officers will be able to seize and search phones and other electronic devices where they have “reasonable grounds to suspect” there is intelligence that could lead to the prosecution of people smugglers.
Previously, officers could only search and seize mobile phones after a migrant was arrested, delaying the chances of accessing vital information early that could solve immigration crimes.
Officers will also have the right to use “reasonable force” if a migrant seeks to obstruct a search. Anyone who wilfully prevents or resists the officers faces a maximum of up to 51 weeks in jail under the 2013 Crime and Courts Act.
Extra funding has also been devoted to upgrading search capabilities with the latest technology that allows officers to quickly search streams of data for key words within phones using AI and other high-tech systems.
The NCA and police investigators will also be able to use new interim Serious Crime Prevention Court Orders and take immediate action to ban suspects under investigation from using mobile phones, laptops and accessing social media.
The Home Office claimed the new powers would enable the NCA to cut the length of their investigations by months, if not years.
Alex Norris, the minister for border security and asylum, said: “Organised criminal networks rely on phone contacts and social media to recruit migrants for Channel crossings.”
“These new powers will allow law enforcement to seize illegal migrants’ phones before an arrest so we can gather intelligence and shut down these vile smuggling gangs before they attempt to risk more lives in these dangerous journeys.”
The measures in Labour’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill follow a 33 per cent increase in smuggling arrests, convictions and seizures of criminal cash and assets. It saw nearly 900 organised immigration crime networks dismantled for good in the first quarter of the year.
There have also been nearly 4,000 organised immigration crime disruptions since the Border Security Command was established in July 2024.
More than 39,000 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year, up some 17 per cent on last year but just below the record levels of 2022.
Isabel Oakeshott
With their sneering TikTok videos, the people smugglers are laughing at all of us
2025-12-01T22:30:44Z