The government does not currently have control of Britain's borders, the home secretary will admit today.
Shabana
Mahmood is hosting counterparts from the Western Balkans and other
European allies in London, and will demand greater international
co-operation to tackle small boat crossings.
The summit is designed to ensure nations on the continent strike new deals to tackle illegal migration, following Britain's "one in, one out" agreement with France signed earlier this year.
Calling
for a "joined-up" response to the challenge, Ms Mahmood will say
"coming together as we are today [...] will make all of our borders and
our countries stronger".
In the meantime, however, the government has failed "to bring order to our borders".
"The
citizens of each of our countries have a very simple expectation of
us," Ms Mahmood will say. "The public rightly expect their government
will be able to determine who enters their country, and who must leave.
"Today,
in this country, and I know in many if not all of yours, that is not
the case. And the failure to bring order to our borders is eroding trust
not just in us as political leaders, but in the credibility of the
state itself."
The Western Balkans is a major transit
route for people smuggling across borders, the Home Office says, with
some 22,000 people transported last year.
Many of the
asylum seekers who cross the Channel had ended up in France via several
other European countries, journeying across the continent after leaving
their homes in parts of Africa and the Middle East.
Today's
summit of European ministers will include representatives from Albania,
Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Kosovo, Poland, Serbia, and others.
Ms
Mahmood will reject the approach of those she will say "turn inwards"
to deal with immigration, as both the Conservatives and Reform tout the
prospect of leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.
But Tory shadow home secretary Chris Philp dismissed the tone of Ms Mahmood's comments, pointing to the record numbers of migrants crossing the Channel this year.
The
increase, and the use of hotels to accommodate them, drove
anti-immigration protests across the UK over the summer months. The
government wants to close all such hotels by the next general election.
In
addition to trying to tackle people smuggling, ministers have also
announced policies to bring down legal immigration, with a requirement
to learn English to A-level standard outlined in parliament on Tuesday.
"If you come to this country, you must learn our language and play your part," Ms Mahmood said.
It's expected to come into force after 4 November.
Showing posts with label border controls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label border controls. Show all posts
Saturday, 18 October 2025
We don't have control of our borders, admits home secretary
Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Your Borders Turn Biometric: New Face & Fingerprint Checks Nobody Voted For
Airports are being rebuilt worldwide around your identity. Face recognition and fingerprint scanners are being introduced in the same of “seamless travel” such as “frictionless boarding”. But this autumn’s rollouts around the globe point to a greater shift towards population control, and build a permanent identity layer arriving without public debate about scope, retention or redress.
What Just Changed
Europe is switching on its Entry/Exit System (EES) today, 12 October, enrolling face and fingerprint recognition for non-EU travellers on first entry and logging all crossings thereafter. The rollout scales up in early 2026 and is already prompting rail terminals, ports and airports to add booths and contingency lines for first-time registrations. The UK’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) is now a default pre-clearance for visa-exempt visitors and is checked before you fly. In Asia, Singapore has moved residents to passport-free clearance using facial and iris biometrics at all Changi terminals, and Dubai is upgrading walk-through tunnels with multi-angle face capture to speed up immigration. In the US, CBP facial comparison now covers all arrivals from abroad, with face-based exit in large hubs and extending to land borders too.
One-by-one, these are operational upgrades to improve the efficiency of travel. Together, though, they reveal a coordinated shift to biometric identity as the spine of modern-day life.
Sunday, 12 May 2019
Swarms of Drones, Piloted by Artificial Intelligence, May Soon Patrol Europe’s Borders
The Intercept
Imagine you’re hiking through the woods near a border. Suddenly, you hear a mechanical buzzing, like a gigantic bee. Two quadcopters have spotted you and swoop in for a closer look. Antennae on both drones and on a nearby autonomous ground vehicle pick up the radio frequencies coming from the cell phone in your pocket. They send the signals to a central server, which triangulates your exact location and feeds it back to the drones. The robots close in.
Cameras and other sensors on the machines recognize you as human and try to ascertain your intentions. Are you a threat? Are you illegally crossing a border? Do you have a gun? Are you engaging in acts of terrorism or organized crime? The machines send video feeds to their human operator, a border guard in an office miles away, who checks the videos and decides that you are not a risk. The border guard pushes a button, and the robots disengage and continue on their patrol.
This is not science fiction. The European Union is financing a project to develop drones piloted by artificial intelligence and designed to autonomously patrol Europe’s borders. The drones will operate in swarms, coordinating and corroborating information among fleets of quadcopters, small fixed-wing airplanes, ground vehicles, submarines, and boats.
Developers of the project, known as Roborder, say the robots will be able to identify humans and independently decide whether they represent a threat. If they determine that you may have committed a crime, they will notify border police.
President Donald Trump has used the specter of criminals crossing the southern border to stir nationalist political sentiment and energize his base. In Europe, two years after the height of the migration crisis that brought more than a million people to the continent, mostly from the Middle East and Africa, immigration remains a hot-button issue, even as the number of new arrivals has dropped. Political parties across the European Union are winning elections on anti-immigrant platforms and enacting increasingly restrictive border policies. Tech ethicists and privacy advocates worry that Roborder and projects like it outsource too much law enforcement work to nonhuman actors and could easily be weaponized against people in border areas.
“The development of these systems is a dark step into morally dangerous territory,” said Noel Sharkey, emeritus professor of robotics and artificial intelligence at Sheffield University in the U.K. and one of the founders of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, a nonprofit that advocates against the military use of robotics. Sharkey lists examples of weaponized drones currently on the market: flying robots equipped with Tasers, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and other weapons. He warns of the implications of combining that technology with AI-based decision-making and using it in politically-charged border zones. “It’s only a matter of time before a drone will be able to take action to stop people,” Sharkey told The Intercept.
Read more
Imagine you’re hiking through the woods near a border. Suddenly, you hear a mechanical buzzing, like a gigantic bee. Two quadcopters have spotted you and swoop in for a closer look. Antennae on both drones and on a nearby autonomous ground vehicle pick up the radio frequencies coming from the cell phone in your pocket. They send the signals to a central server, which triangulates your exact location and feeds it back to the drones. The robots close in.
Cameras and other sensors on the machines recognize you as human and try to ascertain your intentions. Are you a threat? Are you illegally crossing a border? Do you have a gun? Are you engaging in acts of terrorism or organized crime? The machines send video feeds to their human operator, a border guard in an office miles away, who checks the videos and decides that you are not a risk. The border guard pushes a button, and the robots disengage and continue on their patrol.
This is not science fiction. The European Union is financing a project to develop drones piloted by artificial intelligence and designed to autonomously patrol Europe’s borders. The drones will operate in swarms, coordinating and corroborating information among fleets of quadcopters, small fixed-wing airplanes, ground vehicles, submarines, and boats.
Developers of the project, known as Roborder, say the robots will be able to identify humans and independently decide whether they represent a threat. If they determine that you may have committed a crime, they will notify border police.
President Donald Trump has used the specter of criminals crossing the southern border to stir nationalist political sentiment and energize his base. In Europe, two years after the height of the migration crisis that brought more than a million people to the continent, mostly from the Middle East and Africa, immigration remains a hot-button issue, even as the number of new arrivals has dropped. Political parties across the European Union are winning elections on anti-immigrant platforms and enacting increasingly restrictive border policies. Tech ethicists and privacy advocates worry that Roborder and projects like it outsource too much law enforcement work to nonhuman actors and could easily be weaponized against people in border areas.
“The development of these systems is a dark step into morally dangerous territory,” said Noel Sharkey, emeritus professor of robotics and artificial intelligence at Sheffield University in the U.K. and one of the founders of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, a nonprofit that advocates against the military use of robotics. Sharkey lists examples of weaponized drones currently on the market: flying robots equipped with Tasers, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and other weapons. He warns of the implications of combining that technology with AI-based decision-making and using it in politically-charged border zones. “It’s only a matter of time before a drone will be able to take action to stop people,” Sharkey told The Intercept.
Read more
Friday, 3 May 2019
More Than 1,000 Fake Families Found At US Border
Mary Margaret Olohan
The Daily Caller
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) discovered more than 1,000 fake families trying to sneak across the southwest U.S. border.
DHS officials said that since Oct. 1, 2018, authorities have discovered about five fake families a day sneaking across the border with children they have borrowed or abducted, The Washington Times reported Wednesday. Officials worry there may be more families, saying that the 1,000 fraudulent families discovered so far are merely the ones they have caught. DHS officials have also noted a 315 percent increase in the number of fake family units between October 2017 and February 2018.
Homeland Security plans to start a program to check the DNA of the alleged families and ensure the safety of children who are being used in this way.
"The whole goal here is to identify these fake family units," an official told The Washington Times.
This escalating strategy is a result of the 2015 Flores settlement update that makes deporting families with children who claim asylum virtually impossible, according to The Washington Times.
Read more
The Daily Caller
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) discovered more than 1,000 fake families trying to sneak across the southwest U.S. border.
DHS officials said that since Oct. 1, 2018, authorities have discovered about five fake families a day sneaking across the border with children they have borrowed or abducted, The Washington Times reported Wednesday. Officials worry there may be more families, saying that the 1,000 fraudulent families discovered so far are merely the ones they have caught. DHS officials have also noted a 315 percent increase in the number of fake family units between October 2017 and February 2018.
Homeland Security plans to start a program to check the DNA of the alleged families and ensure the safety of children who are being used in this way.
"The whole goal here is to identify these fake family units," an official told The Washington Times.
This escalating strategy is a result of the 2015 Flores settlement update that makes deporting families with children who claim asylum virtually impossible, according to The Washington Times.
Read more
Saturday, 14 July 2018
Neighbors Report Child Trafficking and Find Gov’t Contractors Holding Kids In ‘Black Site’ Prison
The Free Thought Project
Phoenix, AZ – When concerned neighbors called police because they believed dozens of children were being trafficked in their neighborhood, they learned that the children were actually being held in a black site prison operated by defense contractors.
A vacant office building with dark windows in a quiet neighborhood has become a subject of controversy after residents began documenting the dozens of children who were transported to the building in white vans, and then never seen again.
The building is not licensed to hold children or to act as a shelter, and it is owned by MVM Inc., a defense contractor that once provided guards for CIA facilities in Iraq and has made nearly $250 million transporting immigrant children since 2014, according to a report from Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting.
The company’s website specifically claims that “the current services MVM provides consist of transporting undocumented families and unaccompanied children to Department of Health and Human Services designated facilities—we have not and currently do not operate shelters or any other type of housing for minors.”
However, Lianna Dunlap told Reveal that she became suspicious about what was going on at the office building in her neighborhood that is owned by MVM when she noticed new security cameras and extra locks on the exterior last month—and then saw several white vans transporting small children to the building.
“There’s been times where I drive by and I just start crying because, you know, it’s right behind my house. I don’t know and I think that’s the worst part—not knowing what’s actually going on in there and just hoping that they’re OK,” Dunlap said.
Neighbors claimed that they saw pallets of water and boxes of food dropped off at the building, but they never saw the children who were escorted inside, and the darkened windows made them concerned that the children were victims of trafficking, and that they were being harmed inside.
Another neighbor, Kristen Brown, told Reveal that as a mother of a 2-year-old son, she was immediately concerned about the lack of space inside the building and the lack of access to sunlight.
“My kid has the ability to run around and play, and there are 40 kids in that place that I don’t know what you’re doing with,” Brown said. “That, as a mom, it doesn’t feel right.”
Read more
Phoenix, AZ – When concerned neighbors called police because they believed dozens of children were being trafficked in their neighborhood, they learned that the children were actually being held in a black site prison operated by defense contractors.
A vacant office building with dark windows in a quiet neighborhood has become a subject of controversy after residents began documenting the dozens of children who were transported to the building in white vans, and then never seen again.
The building is not licensed to hold children or to act as a shelter, and it is owned by MVM Inc., a defense contractor that once provided guards for CIA facilities in Iraq and has made nearly $250 million transporting immigrant children since 2014, according to a report from Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting.
The company’s website specifically claims that “the current services MVM provides consist of transporting undocumented families and unaccompanied children to Department of Health and Human Services designated facilities—we have not and currently do not operate shelters or any other type of housing for minors.”
However, Lianna Dunlap told Reveal that she became suspicious about what was going on at the office building in her neighborhood that is owned by MVM when she noticed new security cameras and extra locks on the exterior last month—and then saw several white vans transporting small children to the building.
“There’s been times where I drive by and I just start crying because, you know, it’s right behind my house. I don’t know and I think that’s the worst part—not knowing what’s actually going on in there and just hoping that they’re OK,” Dunlap said.
Neighbors claimed that they saw pallets of water and boxes of food dropped off at the building, but they never saw the children who were escorted inside, and the darkened windows made them concerned that the children were victims of trafficking, and that they were being harmed inside.
Another neighbor, Kristen Brown, told Reveal that as a mother of a 2-year-old son, she was immediately concerned about the lack of space inside the building and the lack of access to sunlight.
“My kid has the ability to run around and play, and there are 40 kids in that place that I don’t know what you’re doing with,” Brown said. “That, as a mom, it doesn’t feel right.”
Read more
Sunday, 24 August 2014
U.S. Military: More Counter-Narcotics Funding Will Help Stem Exodus of Children from Central America
Bill Conroy
Narco News
Critics Argue Drug-War Money is Part of the Problem, Not the Solution
Some 58,000 migrant children, mostly Central Americans, have made the treacherous journey to the U.S. southern border alone over the past 10 months, but actions being considered by U.S. officials to combat the problem with more military and drug-war aid to their countries, critics warn, may worsen the violence that provokes this unprecedented exodus.
The number of unaccompanied children that have arrived at the U.S. border so far this fiscal year is up 106 percent from the same period a year earlier — with the total expected to reach 90,000 before Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year.
To put that latter number in perspective, it is nearly five times larger than the number of Border Patrol agents now stationed along the entire southern border.
The Obama administration paints the crisis as a humanitarian issue sparked by poverty, violence and the tug of family bonds. Congressional Republicans point the finger at the Obama administration’s lax enforcement of immigration laws.
Seemingly lost among the fray of political talking points over the child-migrant flight, however, is the stance of the U.S. military — which, unlike the president or Congress, is openly talking about the drug war as being a primary driver of the exodus.
Jose Ruiz, spokesperson for the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), said the transnational criminal organizations now entrenched in Central America have created elaborate networks “capable of moving drugs, money, arms and people” around the world.
“Sadly, crime syndicates that profit from human smuggling prey on victims willing to put themselves and their loved ones at great risk by entrusting ruthless criminals with their safety,” he added.
Gen. John Kelly, commander of SOUTHCOM, recently penned an opinion piece for the military press that lays out the nexus he sees between the flight of unaccompanied children and the pervasive narco-trafficking networks in Central America — particularly in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, the major source nations for the child-migrant surge.
Read more
Narco News
Critics Argue Drug-War Money is Part of the Problem, Not the Solution
Some 58,000 migrant children, mostly Central Americans, have made the treacherous journey to the U.S. southern border alone over the past 10 months, but actions being considered by U.S. officials to combat the problem with more military and drug-war aid to their countries, critics warn, may worsen the violence that provokes this unprecedented exodus.
The number of unaccompanied children that have arrived at the U.S. border so far this fiscal year is up 106 percent from the same period a year earlier — with the total expected to reach 90,000 before Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year.
To put that latter number in perspective, it is nearly five times larger than the number of Border Patrol agents now stationed along the entire southern border.
The Obama administration paints the crisis as a humanitarian issue sparked by poverty, violence and the tug of family bonds. Congressional Republicans point the finger at the Obama administration’s lax enforcement of immigration laws.
Seemingly lost among the fray of political talking points over the child-migrant flight, however, is the stance of the U.S. military — which, unlike the president or Congress, is openly talking about the drug war as being a primary driver of the exodus.
Jose Ruiz, spokesperson for the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), said the transnational criminal organizations now entrenched in Central America have created elaborate networks “capable of moving drugs, money, arms and people” around the world.
“Sadly, crime syndicates that profit from human smuggling prey on victims willing to put themselves and their loved ones at great risk by entrusting ruthless criminals with their safety,” he added.
Gen. John Kelly, commander of SOUTHCOM, recently penned an opinion piece for the military press that lays out the nexus he sees between the flight of unaccompanied children and the pervasive narco-trafficking networks in Central America — particularly in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, the major source nations for the child-migrant surge.
Read more
Friday, 22 August 2014
14 facts that help explain America's child-migrant crisis
Comment: What a mess. Since the US created many of the economic problems over decades of destabilization within these countries in the first place, it's little wonder that these children are ending up searching for the fantasy of the "American Dream." They represent the new wave of immigration from a background of grinding poverty, most of whom are not being deported back to their country of origin. While this is a no-win situation for the migrants and the fact that this experience is something no child should have to undergo, it will be a disaster for the US which is already at breaking point at so many levels. Any huge inflow of immigrants can only mean an exacerbation of socio-econmic woe for all, and precisely what some factions at the top of this Elite pyramid are looking to engineer.
-------------------------
vox.com
The flow of unaccompanied immigrant children across the US-Mexico border — mostly from Central America — is continuing to gain attention as a humanitarian crisis.
So here are 14 things you need to know to get a handle on what is actually going on along the border right now; what process the US has in place to deal with unaccompanied kids and families; and what the government wants to do now.
(For more on this story, see Vox's cardstack and storystream on the crisis.)
Read more
-------------------------
vox.com
The flow of unaccompanied immigrant children across the US-Mexico border — mostly from Central America — is continuing to gain attention as a humanitarian crisis.
So here are 14 things you need to know to get a handle on what is actually going on along the border right now; what process the US has in place to deal with unaccompanied kids and families; and what the government wants to do now.
(For more on this story, see Vox's cardstack and storystream on the crisis.)
1) The child-migrant "surge" began in 2011, but hit a crisis point this year
Border Patrol agents began reporting an increase in the number of unaccompanied children from Central America in the fall of 2011. Because fiscal year 2012 started in October 2011, the government's official numbers show an increase starting then — but anecdotal reports demonstrate that the surge began early that fiscal year, i.e. in 2011.
Read more
Wednesday, 2 July 2014
"Welcome to Hell:" The Border Patrol's Repeated Abuse of Children
Huffington Post
June 24, 2014
Detainees wrested from sleep every 30 minutes, the lights in their frigid cells never turned off. One detainee told by officials, don't lie or you'll be raped. Another detainee sexually abused by guards. Detainees forced to stand in stress positions. Others denied adequate food, water, and medical treatment and held in dehumanizing conditions.
"Welcome to hell," one guard told a detainee, a good metaphor for what occurs across these sites of torment. These incidents don't come from military prisons in Iraq or Afghanistan or CIA black sites. This has been happening for years along the Southwest border in U.S. government facilities run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and its Border Patrol.
The victims: children, some as young as infants. Government agencies have known about these abuses for a long time, but [have] failed to take action. One in four detained children reported physical abuse at the hands of CBP, including sexual assaults and beatings. More than half reported verbal abuse, including racist and sexist insults and even death threats, as well as the denial of urgent medical care. Seven out of ten interviewed reported detentions lasting longer than the 72-hour period mandated by law. Three out of ten children reported that their belongings were confiscated and never returned. Many others reported being shackled during transport, the metal restraints excruciatingly digging into their wrists and ankles. Eighty percent reported CBP personnel denied them adequate food and water. The tolerance of child abuse by federal authorities violates our laws and our values -- it is both inhumane and immoral. Now is the time to put an end to it.
Read more
June 24, 2014
Detainees wrested from sleep every 30 minutes, the lights in their frigid cells never turned off. One detainee told by officials, don't lie or you'll be raped. Another detainee sexually abused by guards. Detainees forced to stand in stress positions. Others denied adequate food, water, and medical treatment and held in dehumanizing conditions.
"Welcome to hell," one guard told a detainee, a good metaphor for what occurs across these sites of torment. These incidents don't come from military prisons in Iraq or Afghanistan or CIA black sites. This has been happening for years along the Southwest border in U.S. government facilities run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and its Border Patrol.
The victims: children, some as young as infants. Government agencies have known about these abuses for a long time, but [have] failed to take action. One in four detained children reported physical abuse at the hands of CBP, including sexual assaults and beatings. More than half reported verbal abuse, including racist and sexist insults and even death threats, as well as the denial of urgent medical care. Seven out of ten interviewed reported detentions lasting longer than the 72-hour period mandated by law. Three out of ten children reported that their belongings were confiscated and never returned. Many others reported being shackled during transport, the metal restraints excruciatingly digging into their wrists and ankles. Eighty percent reported CBP personnel denied them adequate food and water. The tolerance of child abuse by federal authorities violates our laws and our values -- it is both inhumane and immoral. Now is the time to put an end to it.
Read more
Thursday, 30 January 2014
Migrants Should Pay £2,000 When They Arrive In The UK, Says Think Tank
Comment: On the original link there's an opportunity to vote on the idea. At the moment most folks are in favour...
-------------------------------
-------------------------------
Huffington Post (UK)
Charging all migrants £2,000 as soon they arrive in the UK would lead to a more tolerant and transparent immigration system, a think tank claims.
The radical suggestion comes from the CentreForum, which says it would end the charge that people can come to the UK and claim welfare without paying taxes first.
The liberal think tank also hit out at the "arms race" of tough talk on immigration and slammed the government's "perverse" target on migrant numbers.
But the most eye-catching proposal was the £2,000 "National Insurance Advance".
It would be paid upon entry to the UK by non-EU economic migrants only and refunded once they had made sufficient tax contributions, or left the country without claiming welfare.
CentreForum's report also contains plans to extend the period before EU migrants can claim out of work benefits to 12 months.
And it joins calls to scrap the Conservative party's policy of reducing net migration to "the tens of thousands".
The report comes as the Immigration Bill returns to the House of Commons.
Alasdair Murray, report author, said: "Politicians are engaged in an arms race around immigration policy which appears to have more to do with looking tough than genuinely addressing people's concerns with practical policy.
"It is possible to restore confidence in the immigration system by making it more transparent, ending the perception that migrants can access the benefits system without first contributing and developing a target that reflects the real social and economic needs of the country."
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