Our explainer on the “Organised Immigration Crime” Summit
The Hostile Office has been busy pushing out its latest round of cruel migration policies. If you’re finding it hard to keep track, we’ve pulled together this helpful explainer.
The UK hosted the Organised Immigration Crime summit where politicians once again demonstrated their totally missguided focus on intermediaries (so-called ‘people smugglers’). On 31st March 2025, over 40 countries and organisations came together to discuss the issue while the UK Government has taken it as an opportunity to highlight how it’s expanding the Hostile Environment, and honing in on using counter-terrorism powers.
In a recorded speech from the far-right Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, the idea of border externalisation or “return hubs” was front and centre with the Home Office, a.k.a the Hostile Office, saying they are “very open-minded” about the idea.
The summit reaffirmed the fact that it doesn’t seem to have occurred to policymakers that migrants, including refugees and people seeking asylum, are forced to turn to intermediaries because they have no other option. So, if the Government is serious about dismantling the ‘business models’ central to the facilitation of irregular border crossings,they must commit to providing safe, accessible ways to seek safety for all nationalities.
However, there were some other details that emerged that make the ability to seek protection much, much harder. Some key takeaways include:
Boasting about deportations isn’t a good look, Prime Minister.
The UK Government continues to boast about deportation numbers since taking power. In his speech at the summit, Keir Starmer claimed that more than 24,000 migrants have been forced to leave since July making it the “highest rate of returns in eight years.” Let’s break that down a bit: according to Government data, that amounts to a 21% increase in deportations, and a 16% increase in foreign national offenders being deported from the UK since July 5th, including the four biggest returns charter flights in the UK’s history, with a total of more than 850 people on board.
What’s particularly interesting about this is that when the Prime Minister made reference to “getting the asylum system working properly”, he evidenced this by referencing the high number of deportations they’ve achieved, rather than talking about the numbers of people who have been granted protection. This shows that the Government views the purpose of the asylum system as deportation, not as offering safety.
Deportations are a key component in the criminalisation of migration whilst treating migrants as disposable. They are one of the key ways a State exercises its power over racialised individuals, and speaks to the movement of racialised people across borders and against their will which has its origins in the colonial era. We’ve spoken about this in our Abolition and Decolonisation campaign.
More raids, more enforcement
Since taking office, the Government has channelled a lot of energy into ramping up immigration raids on those without permission to work. Apparently, that was only the beginning because the Hostile Office announced that they’re expanding checks on companies employing “gig-economy and zero-hours workers” too.
We know there are a huge amount of issues with right to work checks and the intersection of employment and immigration law. It enforces borders in workplaces and forces employers to become ‘border guards’. We know right to work guidance is confusing, contradictory and in many cases, the checks simply do not work. Right to work checks treat migrants and racialised people with inherent suspicion, and contradict our key belief that everyone should be free to move. We don’t believe anyone should have to prove who they are, including their immigration status, in order to be treated with respect.
We are also worried that the Government’s announcement is opening the door for more raids and more immigration detention. Raids are a fear mechanism that divide and intimidate racialised communities. They disrupt the lives of migrants, their families, businesses and communities, and impose a form of terror.
The framing of undocumented migrants as a security threat is also troubling, as well as racist. How many times do we have to remind the Government that people seeking asylum don’t require permission or pre-entry screening to come to the UK? Once again, it’s clear that policies allegedly targeting intermediaries only serve to restrict the right of people to seek safety.
If you want to learn more about raids and help our work, check out our research.
Turning irregular migration into a counter-terror issue
One of the announcements during the summit relates to international cooperation on targeting migration intermediaries – who the Home Office refers to as ‘smugglers’ or ‘Organised Crime Groups’ (OCGs) involved in ‘Organised Immigration Crime’ (OIC). This is primarily being carried out by the Border Security Command (BSC) and National Crime Agency (NCA), in collaboration with EU countries, officials in common countries of origin for undocumented migrants, and international law enforcement.
The Government announced its new approach of Prevent, Pursue, Protect, Prepare – an approach directly copied from the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST. This aims to prevent migrants from using intermediaries to travel, and disrupt networks of intermediaries, including detecting and intercepting intermediaries at the UK border, and continuing to learn from and adapt this response.
How will they do that? Well, mainly through various bits of legislation. That includes through:
- The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill currently making its way through Parliament
- Investing £150 million into the BSC
- Developing intelligence on intermediaries
- Utilising domestic law enforcement and the criminal justice system to support more prosecutions
- Developing international cooperation through new partnerships, new Home Office taskforces, the sanctions regime, and more joint operational work.
We told you the Hostile Office had been busy.
The Government’s approach won’t tackle the root causes of exploitation
The Government also made repeated reference to exploitation, public finances and national security throughout the summit.
On exploitation, the Government ironically misses how its own immigration system facilitates the extortion and labour exploitation it claims intermediaries are responsible for. We’ve previously discussed how the sponsorship system essentially creates a situation of state-sanctioned exploitation – but this isn’t a convenient political target.
The references made to the burden on public finances that intermediaries generate also reinforce right wing rhetoric that treats migrants as a drain on resources- this is disinformation. Like the Conservative governments that preceded them, Starmer’s Government is blaming migrants for the divestment from public services. Framing people seeking asylum and survivors of modern slavery in this way also contributes to the anti-migrant violence we saw last summer.
The Government has made a political choice to prioritise harm over protection. It spares no expense when it comes to increasing harm against migrants, for example criminalising people seeking asylum for being forced to cross the Channel in a small boat. Meanwhile it criticises funding spent on public services, protection and respect.
We need #ProtectionNotPunishment
Increased enforcement, more dehumanising anti-migrant narratives and the expansion of counter-terrorism powers will just bring more harm to migrants. The Government must abandon its cruel plans and stop criminalising migration.