UK mulls electronic tagging of migrants

London, August 28

Electronically tagging illegal migrants into the United Kingdom as part of the government’s expanded detention plans is among a range of options being considered by the government, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said on Monday.

The Indian-origin minister was reacting to a report that claimed that Global Positioning System (GPS) trackers would be deployed to tag migrants under the new Illegal Migration Act requirements.

The report said Home Office officials are looking at it as a way to stop the absconding of migrants who cannot be housed in detention centres because they are full to capacity. “We’ve just enacted a landmark piece of legislation in the form of our Illegal Migration Act — that empowers us to detain those who arrive here illegally and thereafter swiftly remove them to a safe country like Rwanda,” Braverman said.

Braverman admitted the government may have to provide more detention places while it waits for the outcome of the legal challenges against its plans to deport migrants to Rwanda.