A large number of immigrants, who try to enter Britain illegally in small boats, are Indians. In its latest report, the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs has mentioned that at least one in five of these immigrants is an Indian national. Meanwhile, most of the immigrants come from Afghanistan.

As per the report, 3,793 people crossed the English Channel in small boats to reach Britain in the first quarter of 2023. Among them, 675 (or 18%) were Indians, while 909 (or 24%) were Afghans. A total of 683 Indian immigrants had reached Britain illegally by sea in 2022. Almost equal number of Indian immigrants arrived in Britain in January-March 2023. According to the Indian Home Affairs Ministry, these immigrants have been living and working in the UK on fake identity cards.

Earlier in 2023, the Government of India claimed that many Indian citizens were fleeing illegally to various countries, including the UK, after the crackdown on Khalistani separatists in the northern Indian Province of Punjab.

The Indian Government further stated that a large proportion of illegal Indian immigrants living in Britain were associated with the delivery business, as they started working as food suppliers in companies, like Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat. According to New Delhi, the British Police arrested 60 such illegal Indian immigrants in the third week of April 2023. Although most of them were detained for possessing fake identity cards, the Police recovered weapons and a huge amount of money from some. Hence, it is feared that all these illegal immigrants are involved in criminal activities.

However, the British Government has stated that New Delhi could not provide any evidence for this claim, adding that New Delhi’s claim is not substantiated by the information and statistics available to the British Home Office.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das