Convicted People Smuggler Living in UK Should Be Deported, Tories Say
The UK Conservative Party is calling for the deportation of a convicted people smuggler found living in Leicestershire and attempting to claim asylum.
A convicted people smuggler, once dubbed the "godfather" of the Calais migrant camps, has reportedly been found living in the UK. The Conservatives are demanding his arrest and deportation.
The BBC tracked the man to Leicestershire, where he is said to have changed his name from Twana Jamal and was working illegally while trying to claim asylum. He received a five-year prison sentence in France in 2019, with prosecutors claiming he earned up to £100,000 a week moving people across the Channel.
This case is one of two that raised questions on Thursday about whether the UK’s systems allow for the deportation of foreign criminals, after it emerged that a legal loophole prevented the deportation of a Rochdale grooming gang leader after his release from prison.
Chris Philp, the Conservative shadow home secretary, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "This shines a light on a system that is not working. People are entering our country illegally in large numbers, and we really don’t know who many of them are. The man who was tracked down in Leicestershire should be arrested by the police for illegal working while the authorities should render any claims by him as null and void."
Philp claimed that under a Conservative government the man would be deported, but added: "However, if we try and do that it is likely he will make a human rights claim."
Jacqui Smith, the skills minister, said the Home Office had been in touch with the BBC and wanted "the evidence necessary in order to take action."
The BBC reported that it had found more than 20 active smugglers who had reached the UK, and that immigration officers said it had become more difficult to check criminal records from some other countries since the UK left the EU.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "Despite repeated requests for verification, the BBC failed to provide evidence capable of substantiating the claims in this report."
Earlier this week, it emerged that Shabir Ahmed, 73, the ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang convicted of multiple counts of rape and sexual offences, cannot be deported to Pakistan due to provisions in the Immigration Act 1971.
