Overview
- On July 23 the UK froze assets and imposed travel bans on 25 individuals and organizations under its new sanctions regime.
- The sanctions target Balkan and North African network leaders, hawala money operators in the Middle East, four criminal groups and a Chinese inflatable-boat manufacturer.
- Small-boat crossings of the English Channel have exceeded 23,500 this year with at least 17 deaths recorded in dangerous journeys.
- The sanctions rollout builds on a March global summit on migrant smuggling, an EU-pending France-UK repatriation agreement and an immigration overhaul introduced in May.
- Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to dismantle smuggling gangs under rising pressure from Reform UK over record Channel arrivals.