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Suella Braverman doubles in misdemeanor reports related to "elevated levels of crime" Conservative ministers have stepped up their attacks on small boat migrants, accusing those arriving via the English Channel of being 'asylum buyers' with 'values at odds with our country'. Home Secretary Suella Braverman said those arriving in Britain on small boats had "high levels of crime" including drug dealing and prostitution, but offered no evidence to back up this claim.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said those arriving on the south coast by boat were "essentially asylum buyers" as he had a difficult time in the House of Commons from Conservative MPs over legislation aimed at detain and deport illegal immigrants.
Former Tory Prime Minister Theresa May has warned that the illegal migration bill will leave more people in Britain facing modern slavery, condemning the government's attempts to tackle the problem as "disastrous and" a slap in the face.
Former Tory Attorney General Sir Geoffrey has also launched a scathing attack on the bill, arguing that it would give ministers the power to 'willfully disobey' international law by flouting decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Ms Braverman has also been criticized for failing to ensure the safety of people fleeing the conflict in Sudan, ruling out safe and legal routes for those in the war-torn country.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ms Braverman claimed on Sky News that Sudanese asylum seekers would have "various" legal ways to reach the UK, saying the UN refugee agency was working in the area.
He also said Sudanese refugees arriving in the UK on small boats would be deported, arguing they would "not have a good reason" for crossing the Channel.
But the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) later rebuked the Home Secretary, insisting there was "no mechanism" for refugees to seek asylum in the United Kingdom through the organization.
Later, Braverman ruled out introducing safe routes for asylum seekers from Sudan. “We have no intention of doing this. Our main focus at the moment... is to support British citizens and their dependents,' he told reporters.
Secretary of the Interior Suella Braverman
When asked about Jenrick's comments about small migrant boats threatening to 'cannibalize' social cohesion, the Home Secretary went further, telling Sky News: 'We are seeing rising levels of crime linked to people who arrived on boats related to drug trafficking, exploitation, prostitution. .
But Ms Braverman did not provide statistical evidence to support her claim. When asked about the lack of empirical data, he told reporters: "I consider police chiefs to be experts in their field and authoritative sources of information."
Amnesty International accused her of "pouring gasoline on a xenophobic and racist fire that they themselves started." Labor also condemned Ms Braverman's comments, with a spokesperson calling them a "sort of invective" indicating that the policies promoted "have failed."
Despite a torrid moment in the House of Commons, ministers managed to persuade moderate Conservatives to back down in the face of rebellions against child detention and the opening of safe and legal pathways to asylum.
Tory rebel leader Tim Loughton has confirmed that he will not put a series of amendments to a vote in the House of Commons after ministers were assured there would be strict limits on the detention of unaccompanied children arriving by small boats.
"We take the Minister's assurances in confidence," Loughton said. 'We won't go without a lack of detail when this bill goes to the Lords, but at the moment we are not going to force it to a vote, because I am confident that the migration minister will do what he must before this bill. ends its stages.
The government has promised to publish a report on establishing new safe and legal pathways to asylum within six months of the bill coming into force.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May says the bill 'is a slap in the face'
But Ms May and former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith shared their anger that the government failed to address their concerns about human trafficking and modern slavery.
Temporary protection from removal from the UK is currently granted to suspected victims of modern slavery or human trafficking while their case is being considered. But Ms Braverman's bill removes that protection for those who entered the UK illegally.
Ms May said: 'Far from improving the bill's provisions for victims of modern slavery, it makes them worse. The government will make sure that more people remain in slavery… because it will give the slaveholders, it will give the traffickers, another weapon to keep people in this slavery.
Former Attorney General Sir Geoffrey Cox has questioned amendments added to the bill following pressure from right-wing Conservative rebels close to Ms Braverman, which allow her to reverse ECtHR 'Rule 39' injections that block evictions. He said it would be "a deliberate violation of our obligations."
Although the bill will pass the House of Commons on third reading after the fall of the moderate Conservatives, it is expected to face a difficult time in the House of Lords.
Robert Buckland, former justice secretary, said he hoped the Lords would oppose the attempt to ignore injunctions by EHRC judges in Strasbourg. Crossbench's peer, Lord Thomas, a former chief justice, also warned that the peers would try to stop the "symbolic breach of the rule of law".
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