Refugees and the boat crossings still making political waves
June 2025
This month we are back to the small boats. So far in 2025 some 15,000 arrivals have been recorded (1,100 on one day). The Home Office say this is due to better weather and more people crammed in to boats. In quarter 1 numbers were up by 20% on last year – mainly from the usual places – Eritrea, Afghanistan, Sudan.
The asylum backlog is down to 78,000, but with a lower grant rate (49% over the last year) the improvement may not be maintained. The number of claimants jailed for “illegal arrival” has doubled in the last year. Between 2022 and 2024, 556 arrivals were prosecuted under the Illegal Migration Act and 455 convicted (half of them were said to be piloting the boats, willingly or otherwise, and were therefore “facilitators”). In the latter half of last year, 53 people were arrested for people smuggling including many who happened to be steering the boats and many of them children.
Plans for removing arrivals to third countries for processing have made little progress ; Albania said no, North Macedonia & Kosovo have not been asked but say they are open to discussion.
3,800 Afghans are currently awaiting homes (who came under the ARS scheme and were left unsupported). Also it has been claimed that an unnamed Special Forces officer blocked the entry of 1585 Afghans (it has been suggested this might be related to potential war crimes revelations).
Mary Bosworth (Oxford Professor of Criminology) has an interesting piece on the outsourced immigration detainee escorting system Mary Bosworth (@mfbosworth.bsky.social) — Bluesky
7000 Syrians are still in limbo awaiting a UK decision on processing their claims after a pause (the new regime is still being monitored, though presumably it will eventually be possible for many to return there).
The US has taken on “refugees” from South Africa, white residents supposedly under threat. So far there have been 50,000 enquiries and 68 actual moves.
The Home Secretary has said she is working on a “fast-tracking” removal system for migrants from “safe” countries; these have not yet been named.
Of the 108,000 claimants for asylum status in the last year 16,000 were from holders of student visas. The government is likely to address this question soon.
Immigrant-focused group British Future have polled the public on attitudes to the word “immigrant”. For 70% of respondents this conjured up people on small boats, while 46% thought of imported workers. Of those who wanted to see a reduction in immigration, 49% prioritised the boats, very few mentioning worker or student arrivals. The research also finds that 59% of the public, and 64% of 2024 Labour voters, agree that migrants living in the UK and paying taxes should be eligible to apply for citizenship after five years or less.
Polling organisation More in Common found that 51% thought a fall in immigration a good thing, 57% opining that the level was still too high.
One of the more interesting ideas for Refugee Week is that of Lancaster, where an exhibition, Escape to Safety, will give visitors an interactive view of the refugee experience. More on that here
Finally, the Government’s Spending Review this week had a couple of points on the immigration/asylum seekers question. Chancellor Rachel Reeves says the new Border Security Command will receive up to £280m more a year by the end of the spending-review period. She also promises that all spending on hotels for asylum seekers waiting for their cases to be heard will stop by the end of this parliament.
Andrew Hemming
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 
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