by The Home Office is spending £15m on return partnerships with 11 countries to increase the number of small boat migrants being deported, The Independent can be revealed.
It comes after 12 people died on Tuesday, including six children and a pregnant woman, in an attempt to cross the English Channel, the deadliest crossing attempt of the year so far.
The Department is looking for charities and non-profit organizations to support migrants with reintegration when they are sent back to their home countries.
Under a contract published last month, the government will spend £5m a year on charities offering help such as accommodation and cash to failed asylum seekers and those who have no right to remain in the UK.
The money will also provide food packages, assistance with finding and reuniting families, mental health and employment support, and transportation to destinations in the individual’s home country.
The countries included are Albania, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Iraq, Jamaica, Nigeria, Pakistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
Currently, citizens from each of the countries can be returned if British authorities reject their asylum claims, but many have long records of human rights abuses, including Iraq.
Human Rights Watch has identified flaws in the justice system there that deny defendants due process and a fair trial, discriminatory legal norms that disproportionately affect LGBT+ people, women, children and minorities, and the still inadequate provision of government services are their main areas of concern.
The organization has also criticized Zimbabwe’s crackdown on civil society and said the government is “not taking any meaningful steps to uphold rights and ensure justice for serious abuses in the past”.
The Department hopes that by supporting the reintegration of people expelled by Britain from the UK, migrants will be better protected and will not be encouraged to try to return to the country.
The contract, seen by The Independentsays the money will support the Home Office’s key priorities of tackling illegal migration, stopping those who have no right to be here, and protecting vulnerable people”.
It comes as the government is increasing holding spaces to support a higher pace of transfers including reopening and adding 290 beds across immigration transfer centers at Campsfield and Haslar.
Ministers hope the increase will ensure additional capacity for further enforcement and returns and act as a deterrent to small boat migrants in the future.
More than 19,000 migrants have arrived in Britain by crossing the English Channel in small boats so far this year – and more than 7,000 of those have made the journey since Labor came to power in July.
The new government scrapped the Conservative government’s Rwandan deportation scheme, which cost taxpayers £700m and only sent four volunteers to the east African nation.
Instead, he is plowing money into the Border Security Command to combat smuggling gangs in the small boat trade and investing in speeding up detention and returns.
A Labor spokesman said: “As the home secretary announced last week, the government plans to boost immigration enforcement and restore action to those who have no right to be in the United Kingdom and ensure that the rules are respected and enforced.
“The Conservatives left us with a £6.4bn overspend on the asylum budget, spending £8m a day on hotels and sending four volunteers to Rwanda, rather than getting on with the job.
“The home secretary is sorting out the mess they left behind and that means continued international cooperation with partner nations, and working closely with a number of countries around the globe as part of the mission to end irregular migration .”
The party hopes it will stand in contrast to the Conservative government and be seen as part of an effort to implement practical border control solutions rather than the “gimmicks” they have accused Rishi Sunak and former home secretaries of his pursuit.
The newly elected Labor MP for Dover Mike Tapp, who worked closely with Yvette Cooper, told The Independent: “As the home secretary recently announced, the government plans to boost immigration enforcement and return to action to remove people who have no right to be in the UK, which is becoming all the more important given the dismal legacy the Tories have left us. in the asylum and migration system.
“This is a practical step and shows that the Labor government is interested in results and a system of governance that Britain deserves, not the gimmicks that have seen the Tory government spend large sums of taxpayers’ money with little to show for it. “
