{"id":674724,"date":"2026-01-05T05:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T05:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/674724\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T05:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T05:00:17","slug":"uks-plans-to-seize-asylum-seekers-phones-condemned-by-campaigners-immigration-and-asylum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/674724\/","title":{"rendered":"UK\u2019s plans to seize asylum seekers\u2019 phones condemned by campaigners | Immigration and asylum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Home Office plans to immediately begin seizing asylum seekers\u2019 mobile phones and sim cards without the need for an arrest have been condemned by a solicitor and anti-torture campaigners.<\/p>\n

People who arrive by small boat and are sent to Manston processing centre in Kent will from Monday be eligible for searches for electronic devices, a minister has said, with technology on site to download data.<\/p>\n

Officials will be allowed to search inside the mouths of detainees for hidden technology, but have so far declined to confirm whether they will also be allowed to search children.<\/p>\n

Keir Starmer is attempting to clamp down on unauthorised immigration across the Channel as he tries to combat the electoral threat of Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform UK party.<\/p>\n

Natasha Tsangarides, an associate director at the NGO Freedom from Torture, said: \u201cSubjecting desperate and traumatised men, women and children to invasive searches \u2013 including examinations of their clothing and even inside their mouths \u2013 immediately after they have survived a terrifying Channel crossing is profoundly inhumane.<\/p>\n

\u201cApplying these powers indiscriminately to everyone arriving by small boat risks treating all refugees as a security threat, regardless of evidence, and shows a shocking disregard for the fundamental right to privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

A solicitor whose firm represents dozens of asylum claimants has questioned whether the government\u2019s plans will comply with a 2022 high court ruling<\/a> on mobile phone seizures.<\/p>\n

Jonah Mendelsohn, from Wilson Solicitors, said the government has not identified any form of independent oversight to ensure that searches are fair and legal.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo comply with the legal standards identified by the high court, the use of intrusive searches and data extraction requires independent authorisation and oversight,\u201d Mendelsohn said. \u201cIt is not clear whether the legislation embeds such safeguards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe suggestion that mobile phone searches will be rolled out at Manston also heightens concerns that searches will be carried out on new arrivals on a blanket basis, risking a re-run of the very failures previously identified by the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thousands of asylum seekers who arrive in the UK after crossing the Channel on dinghies are processed at the site near Ramsgate in Kent by Home Office officials and contractors. Many of the new arrivals are vulnerable and arrive in the UK traumatised.<\/p>\n

Under new powers, officers will be entitled to make arrivals remove an outer coat, jacket or gloves at UK ports to search for devices. They will also be able to conduct searches inside someone\u2019s mouth for a hidden sim card or small electronic device.<\/p>\n

Home Office sources have previously told the Guardian that, if deemed clearly necessary and proportionate, children could also be subjected to these searches.<\/p>\n

Officials say the mobile phone searches will enable them to collect intelligence on asylum seekers\u2019 journeys and to arrest people-smugglers. The powers come after the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act became law in December.<\/p>\n

Alex Norris, the borders minister, said: \u201cWe are implementing robust new laws with powerful offences to intercept, disrupt and dismantle these vile gangs faster than ever before and cut off their supply chains.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the prime minister said that the UK will start to see \u201cevidence\u201d of asylum hotel closures in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Starmer told the BBC\u2019s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: \u201cI\u2019ve said to the system, to the relevant departments, I want to see that brought forward as soon as possible, but no longer the end of parliament. Bring it forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want us to close hotels. I think over coming months you\u2019ll see evidence of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Guardian has disclosed that the Home Office plans to send the first group of asylum seekers to a military site in East Sussex<\/a> within weeks.<\/p>\n

A total of 41,472 migrants arrived in the UK in 2025 after crossing the Channel \u2013 the second highest annual figure on record.<\/p>\n

The yearly total was 13% higher than the figure for 2024, when 36,816 migrants made the journey, and 41% higher than 2023\u2019s total of 29,437. It was 9% below the all-time high of 45,774 in 2022.<\/p>\n

Opinion polls put Reform significantly ahead of Labour, with a More in Common poll suggesting the party would win 381 seats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Home Office plans to immediately begin seizing asylum seekers\u2019 mobile phones and sim cards without the need for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[748,393,4884,12,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-674724","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115840733860913071","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}