Progressive actors have latched onto them because they represent a different, more humane approach to forced displacement than the UK has shown other groups in recent times. These have allowed Ukrainians to obtain travel documents while still in other countries and travel legally to the UK. It is guaranteed to cause immense hardship, exploitation, and misery and follows in the wake of other failed deterrence policies, including the 2022 Nationality and Borders Act and a series of expensive and draconian deals with France to militarise and police border zones.Īn alternative approach is desperately needed, and many are suggesting that reform could find inspiration in the humanitarian visas that the Home Office has made available to Ukrainian refugees.

Its latest step is the Illegal Migration Bill, currently being debated in Parliament. The government’s response to these crossings has been extreme and unrelenting hostility. Of these, 45% entered the country by taking ‘small boats’ across the English Channel.

In 2022, almost 75,000 people applied for asylum in the UK.

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