Overview

• Home Office data confirm that only 446 migrants—1% of 43,224 arrivals by small boat between July 2024 and June 2025—were charged with illegal entry offences.
• Just 153 individuals faced prosecution for assisting illegal immigration in the same period despite government vows to “smash the gangs.”
• Crown Prosecution Service officials warn that asylum and modern slavery claims complicate efforts to secure convictions against small-boat migrants.
• The government published its first international sanctions list targeting 25 people-smuggling suspects to disrupt trafficking networks.
• Parliament is reviewing the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which creates new offences like endangering lives at sea and bolsters Border Force powers to seize assets.