Reid to announce "border-control force"
Reid to announce "border-control force"
Also In The News
|
A man has died after sustaining knife wounds in a mass brawl involving more than 40 Asian and white males in Preston. |  |
Sunday, 23, Jul 2006 07:20
The home secretary, John Reid, has announced plans to introduce the UK's first ever uniformed border-control force.
Mr Reid will outline the proposal as part of an extensive shake-up of the government's beleaguered Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) that will be revealed on Tuesday.
In an interview for GMTV's Sunday programme today, the home secretary promised more "forceful" and "effective" control of the UK's entry points.
Stressing that there had been a 72 per cent drop in the number of people seeking asylum in the UK, Mr Reid said that while more failed asylum seekers were being deported, more needed to be done to protect the country's borders.
"We need to do more and I intend to do more because next week what I want to do is to strengthen the resources for our border enforcement," said Mr Reid.
"We need a better, more forceful, more effective, more visible border enforcement."
It is reported that the government's planned reform of its much criticised immigration service will include proposals to double the IND's budget to £280 million by the end of the decade.
The additional funding will allegedly be spent on employing additional immigration officers, improving technology to track down illegal immigrants and mounting more raids on businesses suspected of employing foreign workers illegally.
News of the plans follow the publication of a parliamentary report in which MPs denounce the IND's enforcement of immigration rules as "clearly inadequate".
The Commons' home affairs select committee criticised the IND's poor quality decisions in individual cases and its record on removing illegal immigrants from the UK, stressing that government officials should place a "new emphasis" on enforcement controls.
It also revealed the extent of corruption within the immigration service, revealing that over 700 charges of corruption had been made against immigration staff in 2004/5, resulting in 409 investigations and 31 employees being referred for prosecution.
The committee, which called for the establishment of an independent immigration inspectorate, also ruled out the prospect of an amnesty for illegal immigrants, suggesting that such a scheme would not work without secure borders.