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UK Boosts Efforts to Extend 'Hostile Environment' Policy to Illegal Migrants

© AFP 2023 / Philippe HuguenYoung migrants paint a sheet of paper with the lettering 'I love UK' in the 'Jungle' migrant camp, in Calais, northern France, on October 31, 2016, during a massive operation to clear the squalid settlement where 6,000-8,000 people have been living in dire conditions
Young migrants paint a sheet of paper with the lettering 'I love UK' in the 'Jungle' migrant camp, in Calais, northern France, on October 31, 2016, during a massive operation to clear the squalid settlement where 6,000-8,000 people have been living in dire conditions - Sputnik International
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The UK government is continuing its "hostile environment" policy toward undocumented migrants, including those from the European Union, with such measures as planned freezes of bank accounts that are believed to be owned by them and deportations of those who sleep rough, members of various non-governmental organizations told Sputnik.

LONDON (Sputnik) — According to Ciaran Price, a spokesman for Migrant Resource Center, the UK Home Office has been deporting homeless migrants for some time.

"They have been doing this by leaning on the police and homelessness agencies, including charities, to report homeless EU nationals for removal. The justification for doing so is that many homeless and unemployed migrants are not exercising European treaty rights when it comes to moving to another country for the purpose of work," Price told Sputnik.

A migrant stands between two trailers of a lorry as he attempts to cross the English Channel, in Calais, northern France, Wednesday, June 24, 2015. - Sputnik International
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The program to remove homeless foreigners from the streets was initially set up before the June 2016 referendum on departure from the European Union. The measures aimed at curtailing immigration were initially welcomed by pro-Brexit voters, but the UK government provoked criticism because homeless charities were asked to share information on rough sleepers with it.

A Freedom of Information request filed earlier in 2017 by Corporate Watch research and publishing group pointed to extensive collaboration between multiple charities, the Greater London Authority and the government, with Immigration Enforcement officers often accompanying charity workers in bids to encourage "voluntary" departures from the UK.

The Corporate Watch investigation cited a witness saying they were forced to choose between detention and agreeing to return to their country of origin.

PRESSURE VIA BANKS

According to media reports, the UK banks and building societies will reportedly check about 70 million accounts starting from January to identify those account owners who overstayed visas or whose asylum application was rejected.

"This leaning on the banks relates to the broader 'hostile environment' policy aimed at making it too difficult for migrants to live in the UK. Whether it is practical for banks to do this is very doubtful – I'll point out that the government doesn't even have accurate data on who is here irregularly and they recently sent deportation threats to one hundred and fifty EU nationals who were here legally under EU treaties," Price argued.

The Migrant Resource Center spokesman added that the banks may "end up closing accounts of people randomly which would obviously be a complete mess."

TWO-TIER SYSTEM

The Guardian newspaper reported earlier in September, citing a leaked document, that the UK government was planning to drastically decrease the number of lower-skilled EU migrants, offering them shorter residency.

"This confirms what we feared; the government plan to drag millions more people into the Prime Minister's oppressive and unfair 'hostile environment' immigration system," Corey Stoughton, advocacy director at the National Council for Civil Liberties, also known as Liberty, said in response to a Sputnik inquiry.

The document also laid out the plan for the transition to a new immigration system, with tougher restrictions on migrants, in particular, on family reunification.

"We now have a chance to decide what kind of country we want to be post-Brexit. One with two classes of citizens, where the wealthy can buy their way in and there's a border guard on every corner checking our papers, or one with a humane immigration system that treats everyone fairly and like human beings," Stoughton added.

In this Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016 file photo a man runs with a British flag inside a makeshift camp known as the jungle near Calais, northern France - Sputnik International
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Most so-called hostile environment measures aiming to make life difficult for migrants that were in the United Kingdom illegally were codified in the Immigration Act 2014, with additional steps taken under the Immigration Act 2016.

The debates on freedom of movement between the United Kingdom and the EU states in the future and the discussion of the rights of EU citizens currently living in the United Kingdom and vice versa are at the heart of Brexit negotiations that began in June this year and have to conclude by March 29, 2019.

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