We have produced a detailed impact assessment of the consequences of the first three years of implementation of the Illegal Migration Bill. The analysis is based on publicly available sources and uses conservative estimates based on existing data.

Despite the expansion of safe ways to reach the UK being a crucial way to reduce the number of people taking dangerous journeys, the Bill does nothing to increase them. Instead, the Bill will require the Home Secretary to set an annual cap on the number of people who can arrive through safe routes.

The Bill has now completed all of its stages in parliament, meaning that it will soon receive royal assent and officially become law.

This is a significant and difficult milestone for anyone who believes in treating people fairly and providing safety and security to those in need.

Together with other organisations, we’ve put in tremendous effort to influence the Bill as it has been debated in Parliament. We are pleased there have been some amendments made even though overall the legislation is appalling and will cause immense human suffering. These include:

• A clause that would have given extensive powers to detain and remove family members of those affected by the Bill if they lacked permission to be in the UK has been removed. Also, we stopped these powers from preventing them from coming back, obtaining citizenship, or any future leave to remain. Family members with modern slavery protection are also not affected.
• A provision that would have impacted people arriving irregularly after 7th March 2023 has been changed. Now, about 10,000 who crossed the channel since March won’t be affected by the Act plus more who arrived in other ways. Only those arriving after the date of royal assent will be impacted.
• Pregnant women can no longer be detained indefinitely. The Government will maintain the current rules, allowing a maximum detention of 72 hours, extendable to seven days with Ministerial authorisation. This is a significant improvement from the Bill’s original version.
• The Home Secretary must prepare a report to Parliament published within six months of the Bill becoming law, detailing existing and any new safe and legal routes to be included in the cap. Additionally, local authorities will be consulted on the number of people who can enter the UK through those routes, starting within three months of the Bill passing.