UK to electronically tag some illegal migrants to track movements

London: The UK government is to launch a 12-month pilot scheme that will involve some illegal migrants seeking asylum in the country being electronically tagged to keep track of their movements, it emerged on Saturday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended the plans as he said it was essential that people who arrived through dangerous routes on small boats and hidden in lorries could not simply “vanish”. Documents linked to the UK Home Office proposals suggest that the government wants to obtain data on how frequently asylum seekers abscond.

“This is a very, very generous welcoming country. Quite right too. I am proud of it, but when people come here illegally, when they break the law, it is important that we make that distinction,” Johnson told reporters on his return from Ukraine. “That is what we are doing with our Rwanda policy. That is what we are doing to make sure that asylum seekers can’t just vanish into the rest of the country,” he said.

The Rwanda policy of flying out some migrants to the east African nation has proved contentious, with the first flight grounded by lastminute injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) earlier this week. UK Home Secretary Priti Patel labelled the ruling as “absolutely scandalous” and “opaque”. —AP