UK PM Theresa May Refuses to Relax Clampdown on Illegal Immigration

United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May has said that she will not ease steps to crack down on illegal immigration, despite Home Secretary Sajid Javid’s plan to change the government’s “hostile environment” policy.

Insisting that she had the support of the public for the stern measures on immigration, May added that steps were, however, being taken to ensure that no one was mistakenly affected by the immigration policy, the Guardian reported.

“If you talk to members of the public, what they want to know is to ensure that we are dealing with people who come to the United Kingdom illegally,” May was quoted as saying in Quebec, Canada, where she was attending the G7 summit.

May also supported schemes like Right to Rent, according to which landlords are required to check the immigration status of potential tenants. Taxpayers backed schemes such as this, May said, the Express reported. The scheme was introduced as part of the “hostile environment” steps taken by May in 2015.

The UK PM said that members of the public in the United Kingdom want to know that the government is taking action against people who come to the United Kingdom in an illegal manner. “And that’s why it is important we are able to continue to take measures to identify and do just that,” she was quoted as saying by the Express.

She added that the government needs to make sure that it keeps the measures in place, enabling it to deal with undocumented immigrants. “I think what we need to do is to ensure that we are able to deal with those people who are in the United Kingdom illegally but ensuring that people who are in the United Kingdom legally do not find themselves, as the Windrush generation did, mistakenly caught up in that,” May said.

She explained while applying these measures the government needs to ensure that people who are British and have the legal right to be in the United Kingdom are not caught up in the crackdown, the Guardian reported.

May’s statements come amid Javid saying recently that the United Kingdom will review the country’s visa system for highly skilled immigrants. He also said that he will review the hostile environment for immigrants in the country, adding that he prefers to call it a “compliant” environment.

Javid also put on hold action being taken against immigrants who were facing deportation due to discrepancies in taxation documents. In a letter sent to Yvette Cooper, the chair of the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, that was released on May 29, Javid wrote that he had asked UK Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes to carry out a review of the cases.