LONDON: Britain’s interior minister Suella Braverman defended her policy to remove almost all migrants who arrive without permission, saying her political opponents were “naive do-gooders” and there has been “too much” immigration in recent years.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that stopping asylum seekers arriving on the south coast of England in small vessels — often unseaworthy inflatable boats and dinghies — is one of his top priorities.
The legislation introduced to parliament on Monday aims to reduce the number of people entering Britain in that way, which last year reached a record 45,000, up 500 percent in the last two years. Many came from countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran and Iraq.
Under the government’s plans, asylum seekers will be detained without bail before they are deported to their home country or, if this is not deemed safe, another safe third country.
Braverman, whose parents migrated to Britain in the 1960s from Kenya and Mauritius, said she had been the subject of “grotesque slurs” and would not be patronized on what appropriate views someone of her background could hold.
“I will not be hectored by out-of-touch lefties,” she told parliament. “It’s perfectly respectable for a child of immigrants like me to say that I’m deeply grateful to live here, to say that immigration has been overwhelmingly good for the United Kingdom, but we’ve had too much of it in recent years.”
The Illegal Migration Bill is expected to be heavily contested in parliament and in the courts, setting up a clash over how to deal with the arrivals of small boats ahead of the next election expected next year.
As members of parliament debated the new law in the House of Parliament on Monday, hundreds of people gathered outside to protest against the legislation.
Only in limited circumstances, such as people who were considered too ill to fly or those at a “real risk of serious and irreversible harm,” would people be allowed to claim asylum under the proposals.
Some lawmakers said in the debate they were concerned that the legislation that could allow the deportation of families, pregnant women, and torture victims.
Asked if she was satisfied if there was enough provision to protect vulnerable children, Braverman said she was comfortable with the levels of safeguarding.
“Let’s be honest, the vast majority of arrivals — 74 percent in 2021 — were adult males under the age of 40,” she said.
“The vast majority were not pregnant women, the vast majority were not young women. All traveled through safe countries like France, in which they could and should have first claimed asylum.”
UK interior minister attacks ‘naive do-gooders’ amid criticism of small boats strategy
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UK interior minister attacks ‘naive do-gooders’ amid criticism of small boats strategy
- PM Rishi Sunak has said that stopping asylum seekers arriving on the south coast of England in small vessels is one of his top priorities
With Cuban ally Maduro ousted, Trump warns Havana to make a ‘deal’ before it’s too late
- Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return
- The government has said US sanctions cost Cuba over $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida: President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela’s leader.
Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as US forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country’s oil products.
Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”
“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA — ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Hours later, Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, responded on X by saying “those who turn everything into a business, even human lives, have no moral authority to point the finger at Cuba in any way, absolutely in any way.”
The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.
“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”
Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.
Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro’s capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.
“Those who hysterically accuse our nation today do so out of rage at this people’s sovereign decision to choose their political model,” Díaz-Canel said in his post. He added that “those who blame the Revolution for the severe economic shortages we suffer should be ashamed to keep quiet” and he railed against the “draconian measures” imposed by the US on Cuba.
The island’s communist government has said US sanctions cost the country more than $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025.
Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of an American embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.
“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”
