Immigration Lawyer Ivon Sampson has informed Labour of the “only way” to tackle the small boats crisis, following the Government’s latest plan.
Speaking to GB News, Sampson said the latest move by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to criminalise the advertisement of Channel crossings is “ill-thought through”.
Anyone who advertises small boat crossings or fake passports on social media could face up to five years in prison under new Government plans to tackle illegal immigration.
Cooper said of the plans: “Selling the false promise of a safe journey to the UK and a life in this country – whether on or offline – simply to make money, is nothing short of immoral.
PA / GB News
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Ivon Sampson has outlined the ‘only way’ to stop the migrant crisis
“These criminals have no issue with leading migrants to life-threatening situations using brazen tactics on social media. We are determined to do everything we can to stop them, wherever they operate.”
Criticising the plans on GB News, Sampson told host Nana Akua: “It’s going to be catch me if you can, it seems like another announcement by the Government without thinking through carefully how they are actually going to prosecute.
“Even the smashing the criminal gangs has been abysmal failure. These gangs are not organised as we might think, because as soon as one is shut down, there’ll be another one popping up. Because so long as there’s profits to be made in this business, and as long as there’s a flow of customers, you’re going to have continued supply from the gang members.”
Casting doubt on the latest Labour policy, Sampson added: “I’m afraid they’ll be chasing their own tail with regard to stopping it, because it just will not happen.
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PA | More than 25,000 small boat migrants have crossed the Channel into Britain this year alone“It’s just, again, the Home Office not really thinking through what the practical realities of actually prosecuting or using these new powers, they want to bring into law. It’s ill-thought out.”
Outlining the “only way” the Government can tackle the migrant crisis, Sampson revealed: “The only way you’re going to stop this terrible trade is to stop the demand. And the only way we’re going to stop the demand is if I, as a Channel crossing asylum seeker, know that I’m going to be removed when I get to the UK.
“If I know that I’m going to be removed back to my own country, I will not spend thousands of dollars paying these traffickers. The fact is, we’re not removing people, we’re not sending people back to where they come from, the failed asylum seekers, and so the trade will continue.”
Criticising the policy further, Sampson stated that if they end up going to prison, they are also further contributing to Britain’s “overcrowded” prisons.
GB News
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Sampson told GB News that the policy is ‘ill-thought out’
Sampson said: “If we do put them in prison, we’ve got to pay for that privilege, and we’ve already got overcrowded prisons as it is. So I don’t think it’s a successful policy and it’s not going to work.
“The stop the boats policy didn’t work, the smash the gang policy didn’t work, so the only way they can do that is to have an agreement, an EU wide agreement with all the countries linked back to where people come from.”
He concluded: “Have an international treaty where people are removed, moved back to their homeland, that is the only thing that’s going to work. Not even sending them to France will work, because all you’ll have is the French then, overloaded with asylum seekers, their people have to be returned to their home country.
“Nothing else is going to work. There needs to be some agreements where we can return people to other countries that the courts will be happy with.”
