“We can’t carry on like this.” Home Secretary Yvette Cooper used those words when Britain announced a new Border Security Command on a Sunday in July 2024, only days after Labour won the general election.
The command, launched on 7 July, is meant to give the country a single point of direction against the gangs behind small boat crossings. It draws together the National Crime Agency, intelligence agencies, police, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force. A commander appointed by Cooper will provide what the Home Office called “strategic direction to work across agencies.”
Cooper said the command would be “a major step change in UK enforcement efforts to tackle organized immigration crime.” It will work across Europe and beyond to disrupt trafficking networks, she said, and coordinate with prosecutors in Europe. “Criminal smuggling gangs are making millions out of small boat crossings, undermining our border security and putting lives at risk,” she added.
Hiring the commander
Recruitment for the commander was due to begin the next day. The Home Office said it wanted “an exceptional leader used to working in complex and challenging environments” from senior policing, intelligence or the military, and expected the new recruit in post within weeks. Cooper also promised to start hiring extra capacity in the National Crime Agency right away.
The Home Office said early legislation was being prepared to bring in counter-terror-style powers and stronger measures against organised immigration crime. Cooper commissioned an investigation with the NCA into the routes, methods and tactics gangs now use across Europe, to guide a major law enforcement drive over the coming months. She was also due to speak to European interior ministers and Europol’s director general that week.
The Rwanda plan
The launch came as the government shelved the Conservatives’ Rwanda plan. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said no flights would take asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda. Rishi Sunak had pledged to start those flights in the summer had he won.
Home Office data put illegal entries at approximately 40,000 in 2023. Nearly 130,000 asylum applications came in between April 15, 2023 and April 14, 2024. Of those decided, 56,834 people were granted asylum, a 61% grant rate and the highest annual number of substantive decisions in more than 20 years, and 36,597 applications were rejected.
Later funding
The government announced further money for the effort in August 2025: up to £100 million for the command, the NCA, police and other partners. The package pays for up to 300 extra NCA officers, detection technology and new equipment. According to the government, existing funding had already produced the seizure of over 600 small boats and engines. The NCA reported 351 disruptions of organised immigration crime networks in the 2024 to 2025 financial year, its highest level on record and a 40 percent increase on the year before. NCA Director General of Operations Rob Jones said the agency had 91 investigations running into the most dangerous smuggling networks.
Sources
- Investment for Border Security Command to tackle people smuggling gangs
- UK launches new Border Security Command to fight illegal immigration
