UK PM urges nations to smash migrant smuggling gangs 'once and for all'

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged dozens of countries attending an immigration crime summit on Monday to join forces to dismantle migrant smuggling gangs "once and for all".

Starmer is seeking to crack down on would-be asylum seekers arriving in England on flimsy small boats and has brought together delegates from more than 40 nations for the two-day meeting in London.

The interior ministers of France and Germany were among those attending the Organised Immigration Crime Summit. China and the United States also sent representatives.

The UK government is struggling to stop undocumented migrants embarking on dangerous boat journeys across the English Channel from France.

"This vile trade exploits the cracks between our institutions ... and profits from our inability at the political level to come together," Starmer said.

He argued that resources and intelligence must be shared and that governments need to "tackle the problem upstream at every step of the people-smuggling routes".

"There's nothing progressive or compassionate about turning a blind eye to this," Starmer added.

Britain's interior ministry, known as the Home Office, billed the gathering as "the first major international summit in the UK to tackle the global emergency of illegal migration".

In a video message, Italy's far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hailed her country's agreement with Albania to process asylum claims at detention centres in the non-European Union country.

She claimed countries "criticised (it) at first but that then has gained increasing consensus".

Italian judges have repeatedly refused to sign off on migrants intercepted by Italian authorities at sea being detained in Albania, ordering them to be transferred to Italy instead, and the European Court of Justice is reviewing Rome's policy.

- Online recruitment -

Starmer's summit is designed to build on a plan that Britain, Belgium, Germany, France and the Netherlands signed in December to boost cooperation against irregular migration.

Delegates from countries from where migrants set out, such as Vietnam and Iraq, and countries they transit through, such as those in the Balkans, also attended.

It also brought together the heads of UK law enforcement agencies and counterparts from Interpol, Europol and Afripol.

The Home Office said the summit would discuss the equipment, infrastructure and fraudulent documents that criminal gangs use.

They would also look at how supply routes work and discuss how to tackle the online recruitment of migrants, including with representatives from social media platforms Meta, X and TikTok.

The UK announced Sunday it was launching adverts on Zalo, the Vietnamese instant messaging system, to warn people of the dangers of people smugglers.

Vietnamese nationals are among the top nationalities making the perilous sea voyage across the Channel to Britain.

Similar UK campaigns have already been launched in Albania and Iraqi Kurdistan.

UK officials are also keen to speak to China about how it can stop exporting engines and other small boats parts used in crossings.

- Domestic pressure -

Starmer told the meeting that since his Labour government took power in July, more than 24,000 people with "no right to be here" had been returned.

But the number of undocumented migrants arriving across the Channel set a new record last week for the first three months of the year -- at more than 6,600.

At least 10 people are dead or missing after attempting the treacherous crossing so far this year, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

More than 157,770 people have been detected trying to enter Britain in dinghies since successive governments began collecting data in 2018.

In February, Starmer's government announced it was toughening immigration rules to make it almost impossible for undocumented migrants who arrive on small boats to later receive citizenship.

Starmer is facing rising support for Nigel Farage's anti-immigration Reform UK party, which won roughly four million votes at July's general election -- an unprecedented haul for a hard-right party.

Amnesty International said "everyone should be allowed to enter another country to seek asylum", while the Refugee Council called on the UK government to focus on improving legal channels for gaining asylum.

"Enforcement strategies alone will never work," said Refugee Council CEO Enver Solomon.