British government introduces new measures to tackle illegal immigration crisis

(Baonghean.vn)- On Monday, August 3, the British government pledged to push for new measures to address the illegal immigration crisis through the Tunnel, targeting landlords who rent houses to illegal immigrants.

Security personnel were deployed to disperse crowds of migrants in Calais. Photo: BBC

Landlords in the UK who fail to evict people without the right to be in the UK or who fail to check a person’s immigration status before renting a property to them could face up to five years in prison. The new measures, introduced by the Secretary of State for Local Affairs and Communities, Greg Clark, will be included in the new Immigration Bill, which will be debated and considered by parliament in the coming months.

In addition, 100 guards were assigned to the port of Calais, France (where migrants gather to go to the UK), while UK border officials worked in the Eurotunnel control room, starting from Monday, August 3.

“I think we have found a suitcase big enough to fit this crisis into. The numbers of illegal migrants have fallen significantly since the peak of the crisis last week,” said British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond. “We have put in place a number of measures, in conjunction with the French government and the Eurotunnel, that have been effective. I hope that in the coming days they will increase.”

The issue of migration is one of the most sensitive in British politics and the centre-right government of British Prime Minister David Cameron has been fighting for years to reduce the number of migrants.

Mr Cameron's government has also previously announced that new Immigration Laws will give police powers to confiscate money earned by illegal migrants.

Vo Ngoc Trung

Source: AFP