Border blitz to keep criminals out
Priti’s US-style plan to screen every traveller to Britain – before they board a plane
EVERY foreign traveller will face a criminal check before they get on a plane to Britain under Priti Patel’s border clampdown, the Mail can reveal.
The Home Secretary will replicate tough US measures used to keep out people who pose a threat to the country.
Under the plans, all overseas visitors – including those from EU member states – will be forced to apply for permission to enter the UK before starting their journey. This will provide a chance to screen arrivals in advance of them setting off.
Travellers will have their details automatically checked against watch lists and criminal dataunhindered bases – and those who have previously committed crimes will have their applications reviewed to decide if they should be let in. Officials will be able to block dangerous people from coming before they board flights.
The plans – modelled on the Esta system of pre-flight checks introduced in the US after 9/11 – are due to be published this later month and will be included in the UK Sovereign Borders Bill in the summer.
The Mail revealed yesterday that the bill will also include controversial plans to send asylum seekers who arrive in the UK via illegal routes to a third country, such as Turkey. They would then remain there until they could be repatriated to either their home country, or the one they travelled to the UK from.
The plan is the latest effort to toughen Britain’s borders.
Currently, foreign travellers from almost 90 countries – including EU member states, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Israel, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina and Chile – do not need a visa to enter the UK for stays of up to six months.
This means British officials can have only limited information about them prior to their arrival at the border. Last year, the Mail revealed that hundreds of foreign killers, rapists and paedophiles had entered Britain without any checks. More than 2,000 serious offenders were arrested over a three-year period after arriving here
‘Extra level of security’
– a rate of two a day. Their convictions emerged only after they were arrested and officers requested police records from their home countries. Some arrived under EU freedom of movement rules.
Although EU nationals have their passport details checked against a ‘watchlist’ of suspected terrorists and foreign criminals when they arrive at the border, any convictions are unlikely to be raised unless they are a high-profile offender.
Alice Gross, 14, was murdered in west London in 2014 by a convicted killer who had moved from Latvia under freedom of movement rules.
Under the new plan, everyone other than British and Irish citizens will be required to have completed an online ‘permission to travel’ form as part of a new Electronic Travel Authorisation scheme. Rules will stop airlines from letting people board unless they have filled the form in.
The scheme is modelled on America’s Esta – or Electronic System for Travel Authorization – in which those going to the US must submit an online application at least 72 hours before travel and pay a $14 (£10) fee.
Passengers have to declare if they have been arrested or convicted of certain crimes including arson, burglary, assault, murder and rape.
They also have to declare if they have ever violated drugs laws or engaged in terrorism or espionage. Ministers here are yet to finalise details such as how long in advance of travel passengers will have to submit their details, the application fee, and what criteria will be used for
‘People who want to cause harm’
blocking someone from travelling. A Home Office source said: ‘For too long our borders haven’t been as secure as they should have been.
‘Now we have ended free movement and introduced our points-based sys
tem, we can add an extra level of security to our borders with these electronic travel authorisations and keep out people who want to come here and cause harm.’
Miss Patel will announce the scheme as part of her radical overhaul of the country’s border policies. She will establish new ‘legal safe routes’ allowing genuine refugees to secure the right to come to the UK directly from war zones.
But the proposals will also mean Britain takes a tougher line on unauthorised immigration. Migrants will be banned from claiming UK asylum if they arrive from a safe country such as France. In a bid to end illegal Channel crossings, arrivals will be sent to a third country for processing.
The new measures will also include tougher enforcement action against people smuggling gangs, including the introduction of life sentences for the worst offenders, up from a current maximum jail term of 14 years.