UK PM Rishi Sunak's Illegal Migration Bill clears Parliament hurdle

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Migration Bill, instrumental to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's pledge to «stop the boats» of illegal migrants entering the country's shores, has cleared its long-drawn parliamentary hurdle and will soon become law after Royal Assent from King Charles III. Under the bill, the UK's Home Secretary will have a legal duty to detain and remove anyone entering the UK illegally.

In a late-night debate in the House of Lords on Monday, further amendments to the bill were dismissed and it passed after a standoff between both Houses over the issue. In the last few weeks, the bill passed between the House of Commons and House of Lords a number of times in a process often dubbed as parliamentary ping-pong in British politics until a consensus is reached.

In the Commons, former prime minister Theresa May led a series of backbench rebellions over plans to restrict access to the UK asylum system for victims of modern slavery. May, who as home secretary introduced the Modern Slavery Act, said the bill «will enable more slave drivers to operate and make money out of human misery».

The government argued that anyone identified as a potential victim of modern slavery would be returned home or to another «safe country away from those who have trafficked them». However, May did not vote for an exemption from the bill for suspected victims of slavery, paving the way for its passage.

Once the bill becomes an Act, it will be UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman's legal duty to remove anyone who comes to the UK illegally and applies to victims of trafficking and slavery, accompanied children and unaccompanied children as soon as they turn 18. «The Prime Minister (Rishi Sunak) and I have made a promise to the British people to stop the boats,» Braverman