Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced it will no longer bother to attempt prosecuting most illegal migrants even under existing laws, as Home Secretary Priti Patel is once again claiming the Tories are poised to get tough on mass migration.
A new deal between prosecutors, police, border agents, the FBI-style National Crime Agency (NCA), and the Home Office will see prosecutions for illegal entry largely abandoned, according to The Times, except possibly in cases involving people who have previously been deported.
“Asylum seekers often have no choice in how they travel and face exploitation by organised crime groups,” the CPS claimed in a statement.
“The guidance therefore advises that passengers of boats and other vehicles should not be prosecuted unless they are repeat offenders or have previously been deported — and should instead be dealt with by administrative removal channels,” it added.
The move completely undercuts Priti Patel, the Secretary of State responsible, broadly speaking, for policing, national security, and border control in the Boris Johnson administration, in her latest efforts to convince the public that the Tories are getting tough on illegal immigration, proposing new laws that could see illegal migrants handed four-year sentences.
Such measures will count for nothing if prosecutors do not take illegal migrants to court in the first place.
UK Deportations of Foreign Criminals Fell 79 per cent Last Year, Despite Patel’s Promises to ‘Get Tough’ https://t.co/5PazItcV8R
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 19, 2021
The Crown Prosecution Service’s stance that illegal aliens will “usually be better dealt with by removal” runs contrary to the fact that the British government’s record on deportations is extremely poor and getting worse, with the number of even convicted foreign national offenders (FNOs) being removed from the country having collapsed by some 79 per cent.
On illegal migrants who have been crossing the English Channel from France and, more rarely, the Low Countries, on small boats, in particular, the government’s record has been similarly abysmal, with Corporate Watch claiming that just 136 out of many thousands had been removed during what was supposed to be a major deportation effort in the months leading to Britain’s formal break with EU governance at the end of December 2020.
Breitbart London reported on March 4th that zero Channel migrants had been deported through 2021 despite record arrivals and Patel having strongly indicated that she would be able to leap into action once free of EU asylum rules in January.
Border Force never turns back migrant boats, and indeed has been observed receiving migrants from the French authorities after they have escorted them through their waters. In one case Border Force was even accused of venturing into French waters to collect boat migrants and bring them to Britain.
Indeed, the fact that most illegal migrants benefit from this Border Force “taxi” service means that few of the migrants breaking into Britain would be eligible for prosecution at present even if prosecutors had a mind to uphold the law, because, as The Times notes, they do not technically count as having arrived illegally due to border agents having assisted them to shore.
Censor the Migrants Away: Priti Patel Demands Social Media Remove Videos of Channel Crossings https://t.co/pQtKVzE3o8
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 7, 2021
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