Category Archives: Migration

Starmer ‘completely rejects’ suggestion he echoed Enoch Powell in immigration speech, No 10 says – as it happened

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David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has just started taking questions in the Commons. In response to the first question, Hamish Falconer, minister for the Middle East, said the UK has joined calls for an urgent meeting of the UN security council this afternoon to discuss the situation in Gaza.

After Foreign Office questions, Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, is asking an urgent question about the Mansion House accord – a deal with pension companies intended to get them to invest more in UK firms.

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Starmer defends plans to curb net migration after backlash from MPs

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Prime minister’s ‘island of strangers’ speech was likened to rhetoric of Enoch Powell

Keir Starmer has defended his plans to curb net migration after an angry backlash from MPs, businesses and industry to a speech in which he said the UK risked becoming an “island of strangers” without tough new policies.

The rhetoric was likened by some critics to the language of Enoch Powell, and the prime minister was accused of pandering to the populist right by insisting he intended to “take back control of our borders” and end a “squalid chapter” of rising inward migration.

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Rwandan talks with US over deported migrants are chance to expand its influence

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African country looks to position itself as a useful option for countries’ anti-migration policies

Talks between Rwanda and the US to host deported migrants are the latest move by the African country to position itself as a useful option for the anti-migration policies of allied governments.

Previous high-profile attempts, however, including with the UK, Israel and Denmark, failed after becoming beset by controversy.

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UK access to EU crime and illegal migration data reportedly denied

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Blow to Starmer’s hopes of post-Brexit reset and efforts to clear asylum claims amid rise of populist right

A UK request for access to shared European Union crime and illegal migration data has reportedly been rejected in a blow to Keir Starmer’s hopes of a post-Brexit relations “reset”.

British negotiators have been hoping to reach a deal on gaining access to the Schengen Information System (SIS), a vital tool for sharing police alerts across borders within the area where 29 countries have abolished passport controls.

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Arizona governor pauses deportation for Guatemalan who gave birth days ago

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‘Erika’, 24, gained public attention after lawyer said federal agents denied him access to her in a Tucson hospital

A Guatemalan immigrant who crossed the US border eight months pregnant and gave birth in Arizona has avoided fast-track deportation after intervention by the state’s governor, her lawyer and a federal official said on Saturday.

The 24-year-old woman gained public attention after lawyer Luis Campos said federal agents had denied him access to her in a Tucson hospital after she gave birth on Wednesday and told him she was set for rapid removal after entering the country illegally.

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Now Farage not Starmer is feeding public’s appetite for change

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The Reform UK leader has somehow dodged responsibility for the economic damage of Brexit and is winning over disaffected Labour voters

There was a time when any election campaign featuring the name Nigel Farage would have featured the word “Brexit” just as prominently.

And yet, almost a decade after Farage orchestrated Britain’s great EU schism, and with the Reform leader emerging as a bigger political threat than ever, at this week’s local elections Brexit was not a word on the lips of voters.

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Malta’s ‘golden passport’ scheme ruled to be illegal by EU’s top court

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Long-awaited ruling means cash-for-citizenship programme that allowed people to live and work in bloc must be scrapped

The European court of justice has ruled that Malta’s “golden passport” scheme is illegal, meaning its cash-for-citizenship programme must be scrapped.

In a long-awaited ruling on Tuesday, the EU’s top court concluded that Malta’s investor citizenship scheme was contrary to EU law. Judges said the scheme represented a “commercialisation of the grant of the nationality of a member state” and by extension EU citizenship, which was at odds with European law. Malta had jeopardised the mutual trust between EU member states necessary to create an area without internal borders, the court argued.

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Labour MPs urge Starmer to back youth mobility scheme amid EU trade reset

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More than 60 MPs sign letter calling for time-limited visas for 18- to 30-year-olds to travel freely

Keir Starmer is under pressure from more than 60 Labour MPs to allow thousands of young Europeans to live and work in the UK, a move seen as key to unlocking a more ambitious trade reset with Brussels.

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said discussions on a potential scheme were ongoing, in the clearest hint yet that the government is preparing to do a deal.

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JD Vance had ‘exchange of opinions’ with senior cardinal, Vatican says

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US vice-president, who is a Catholic convert, discusses immigration and international wars with secretary of state

The US vice-president, JD Vance, had “an exchange of opinions” with the Vatican’s secretary of state over current international conflicts and immigration when they met on Saturday, the Vatican has said.

The Vatican issued a statement after Vance, a Catholic convert, met Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher. There was no indication he met Pope Francis, who has resumed some official duties during his recovery from pneumonia.

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Irregular migrant crossings into Europe fall 30% in first quarter of 2025

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Human rights groups say drop is partly due to EU policies that turn blind eye to rights abuses in countries such as Libya and Tunisia

Irregular crossings at Europe’s borders have fallen by 30% in the first quarter of the year compared with the same period last year, in a decrease that rights groups partly attributed to EU policies that have emphasised deterrence while seemingly turning a blind eye to the risk of rights abuses.

The decline was seen across all the major migratory routes into Europe, the EU’s border agency Frontex said in a statement, amounting to nearly 33,600 fewer arrivals in the first three months of the year.

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Sudan in ‘world’s largest humanitarian crisis’ after two years of civil war

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NGOs and UN say country is ‘worse off than ever before’ with wide-scale displacement, hunger and attacks on refugee camps

Sudan is suffering from the largest humanitarian crisis globally and its civilians are continuing to pay the price for inaction by the international community, NGOs and the UN have said, as the country’s civil war enters its third year.

The UK is hosting ministers from 20 countries in London on Tuesday in an attempt to restart stalled peace talks. However, diplomatic efforts have often been sidelined by other crises, including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

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Stereotyping a factor in loss of life in deadliest Channel crossing, inquiry told

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Migrant dinghy was also confused with vessel from which 35 people were rescued, so incident was marked ‘resolved’

Survivors and bereaved relatives have told an inquiry into the biggest ever loss of life in a migrant dinghy in the Channel that they believe stereotyping them as “foreigners” contributed to the failure to rescue them before the majority died.

The Cranston inquiry into how at least 27 people drowned on 24 November 2021 heard that survivors believed many on board could have been saved if rescue had been sent more quickly.

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Many victims of Channel dinghy tragedy could have been saved, inquiry lawyers say

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Many of 27 people who drowned in 2021 might have survived if rescue services had searched for longer, lawyers argue

Many of the people who drowned in the biggest ever loss of life in a migrant dinghy in the Channel could have been saved if rescue services had searched for them for longer, lawyers for their families have said.

Their comments came after the independent Cranston inquiry, which is scrutinising the circumstances surrounding the mass drowning, heard evidence from an expert into survivability in the water.

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Conor McGregor anti-immigration rant in White House condemned by Irish PM

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Micheál Martin says MMA fighter’s comments before Trump meeting ‘do not reflect spirit of St Patrick’s Day’

Ireland’s taoiseach has denounced anti-immigration comments made by Conor McGregor as the MMA fighter visited the White House before a St Patrick’s Day meeting with Donald Trump.

McGregor said “Ireland is on the cusp of losing its Irishness” and that an “illegal immigration racket” was “running ravage on the country”.

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Greek PM seeks ‘reset’ with former far-right activist as migration minister

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Shaken by rail protests, Kyriakos Mitsotakis brings in new transport minister while tacking right on migration

The Greek prime minister has appointed a former far-right student activist to the helm of the migration ministry as part of a broad reshuffle aimed at “resetting” his government amid public outrage over its handling of a deadly 2023 train crash.

In an attempt to stem declining approval ratings, Kyriakos Mitsotakis placed the self-described nationalist, Makis Voridis, in the sensitive post while selecting a number of younger officials to key portfolios including the transport ministry.

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Ministers delaying inquiry into treatment of migrant carers, RCN says

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Exclusive: Nursing union says it continues to receive complaints about low pay, unfit housing and illegal fees

Ministers are dragging their heels on an investigation into the mistreatment of migrant carers, the country’s largest nursing union has said, as it continues to receive complaints about low pay, substandard accommodation and illegal fees.

Nicola Ranger, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, has written to Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, to urge her to speed up her promised investigation into the abuse of foreign care workers.

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Home Office contractor collected data on UK citizens while checking migrants’ finances

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Official sent email to charity that suggested Home Office had data on ‘hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting Britons’

The Home Office has been accused of collecting data on “hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting British citizens” while conducting financial checks on migrants.

A report by a private contractor for a routine immigration application was mistakenly sent to a charity by a government official, and contained information on more than 260 people including their names, dates of birth and electoral roll data.

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Police search for woman who escaped Panama hotel where US deportees are being held

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Zheng Lijuan fled Panama City hotel as 170 of deported migrants were transported to dense, lawless region

Police are searching for a Chinese woman who escaped from a downtown Panama City hotel where she was being held following her deportation from the US under Donald Trump’s intensified campaign against immigrants.

Zheng Lijuan was one of 299 migrants – from China, Afghanistan, Iran and other countries with which the US lacks extradition agreements – who have been flown in shackles to Panama since last Wednesday. Panamanian authorities say they believe that Zheng was aided by locals who had been “prowling” outside the Decapolis hotel in the capital city where the deportees had been held.

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Convicted murderer among three members of NZYQ cohort to be resettled in Nauru under deal struck by Labor

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Three non-citizens with criminal histories taken into immigration detention in preparation for removal from Australia, home affairs minister says

Three members of the NZYQ cohort of non-citizens, including a convicted murderer, will be resettled in Nauru after the Albanese government struck a deal with the tiny Pacific nation for an undisclosed sum.

The trio were placed into immigration detention in preparation for their removal from Australia after being granted 30-year resettlement visas by Nauru on Saturday, the home affairs minster, Tony Burke, announced on Sunday.

The NZYQ cohort includes non-citizens released into the community in Australia as a result of a landmark 2023 high court decision, where the court ruled in favour of “NZYQ”, a stateless Rohingya man, who faced the prospect of detention for life because no country had agreed to resettle him, due to a criminal conviction for raping a 10-year-old in Australia.

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US deports 119 immigrants of varying nationalities to Panama

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People from Afghanistan, Iran, China and other countries flown out as Trump’s deportation effort intensifies

The US has sent undocumented immigrants from several Asian countries whose governments have refused to accept them to Panama, in a move signalling an intensification of the Trump administration’s deportation effort.

A military plane carrying 119 immigrants from countries including Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, China, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Pakistan flew from California to Panama City on Wednesday in what was expected to be the first of three migrants flights to the country.

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