So will Rishi Sunak’s new crackdown on Channel migrants work? From legal challenges to deterring future crossings, these are the FIVE obstacles it will face

• A ‘major incident’ was declared when first boats crossed from northern France 
• Priti Patel said the illegal journeys would be ‘virtually eliminated’ by early 2021

Key details of Rishi Sunak’s major crackdown on illegal immigration have begun to emerge ahead of today’s launch.

A comprehensive solution to the Channel small-boats crisis has eluded ministers for years.

At the end of 2018, then-home secretary Sajid Javid declared a ‘major incident’ when the first boats crossed from northern France. His successor Priti Patel declared the illegal journeys would be ‘virtually eliminated’ by early 2021, but despite attempts to solve the problem, there were a record 46,000 arrivals last year.

So of the key new proposals we know will be set out today, what are the Government’s chances of success?

Key details of Rishi Sunak’s major crackdown on illegal immigration have begun to emerge ahead of today’s launch

There are just 2,500 beds in Britain’s immigration detention centres. The Government has already announced plans to create an additional 1,000 places by reopening disused centres Campsfield House, near Oxford, and Haslar, at Gosport, Hampshire

DETAINING CHANNEL MIGRANTS

Mr Sunak has pledged to ‘detain and swiftly remove’ all Channel migrants. But it remains to be seen where they will be held.

There are just 2,500 beds in Britain’s immigration detention centres. The Government has already announced plans to create an additional 1,000 places by reopening disused centres Campsfield House, near Oxford, and Haslar, at Gosport, Hampshire.

Bids for the £450 million, six-year contracts closed in January and the centres are both due to be up and running by August.

But there are tens of thousands of Channel arrivals each year. More than 8,600 arrived last August alone, with the highest daily total standing at almost 1,300.

Prisons cannot be used because they are already full, with inmates being kept in police station cells under an emergency scheme.

There will need to be a major expansion of detention capacity if Mr Sunak’s pledge is to be met.

DEPORTING ILLEGAL MIGRANTS

The Home Office faces huge barriers when it tries to remove migrants who arrive by ‘irregular routes’. Once a migrant has claimed asylum, their claim enters a massive backlog of 166,000 cases.

PICTURED: Suella Braverman. The Bill being published today will place on the Home Secretary a new ‘duty to remove’ anyone who enters the country illegally

Even when the Home Office has reached a decision, there are multiple appeal stages in the immigration tribunals. And when that process is concluded, last-minute legal challenges are regularly deployed by immigration lawyers on behalf of their clients.

The Bill being published today will place on the Home Secretary a new ‘duty to remove’ anyone who enters the country illegally.

It is expected to set out that all asylum applications by irregular migrants are instantly ruled ‘inadmissible’. All appeals against rejections, which often involve challenges under human rights laws, will have to be lodged from overseas rather than in Britain.

Claims under the Government’s own modern slavery laws, which have allowed migrants to delay removal by alleging they have been exploited, will also be barred.

The Government stands a strong chance of success with this radically streamlined system – providing it can be brought into force. It is understood ministers will deploy rarely used measures in the Human Rights Act.

This means the entire Government from the top down – rather than just the Home Secretary – invites Parliament to pass the Bill, even though there is a risk it breaches the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Home Office faces huge barriers when it tries to remove migrants who arrive by ‘irregular routes’. Once a migrant has claimed asylum, their claim enters a massive backlog of 166,000 cases

Claims under the Government’s own modern slavery laws, which have allowed migrants to delay removal by alleging they have been exploited, will also be barred

Pro-migrant groups are likely to challenge key elements and claim they breach international refugee conventions. Even if it is approved quickly by Parliament, ministers run the risk of the plan being bogged down in the courts for months

FACING OFF LEGAL CHALLENGES

Government lawyers are understood to have advised ministers that the new Bill is lawful, although it pushes legal boundaries.

Home Office insiders are confident the legislation can be fast-tracked and be on the statute book by the summer.

However, pro-migrant groups are likely to challenge key elements and claim they breach international refugee conventions.

Even if it is approved quickly by Parliament, ministers run the risk of the plan being bogged down in the courts for months.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman acknowledged yesterday that the new measures were likely to face ‘challenges in many forms’. Last year’s Rwanda asylum deal – which will see migrants handed a one-way ticket to the east African nation – remains in legal limbo.

The principle of the scheme was declared lawful by the High Court in December, but an appeal began in earnest yesterday and, even after it is concluded, further appeals are likely. It is impossible to say at this stage how long it will take to bring today’s new measures fully into force.

SAFE ROUTES

The Labour Party and pro-migrant groups claim it is essential to create ‘safe and legal routes’ for asylum seekers.

This would allow would-be refugees to apply to come to Britain from overseas – and then fly here if their claim is approved.

But Home Office experts have forecast that uncapped legal routes would result in millions of migrants coming to Britain, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday.

The officials estimated there would be massive demand from a pool of 100 million people who have been displaced by conflict and disasters across the globe, overwhelming the UK’s housing supply and public services.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said the Government will eventually look at opening additional legal routes, but only ‘once we have control over our border’.

DETERRING CROSSINGS

Priti Patel declared the illegal journeys would be ‘virtually eliminated’ by early 2021, but despite attempts to solve the problem, there were a record 46,000 arrivals last year

Ministers will be hoping that tough talk will discourage potential Channel migrants from making a crossing in the first place.

The threat of being locked up and deported could be enough to make many think twice.

Further measures in the Bill will indefinitely bar illegal migrants from entering Britain again – and this could be particularly effective at deterring migrants from safe countries such as Albania.

Small-boat arrivals from the Balkan state rocketed to 12,301 last year – up from just 800 in the previous 12 months.

Even their own ambassador in the UK admitted that many were ‘just economic migrants’.

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