The Home Office has enacted a new measure that allows security officials to confiscate mobile phones and sim cards from migrants without placing them under arrest, a bid the government says will bolster efforts to dismantle people smuggling networks.
The power flows from the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, which became law in December 2025 under the Labour administration and took effect on Monday.
Authorities said the measure will help trace small boat crossings and gather intelligence on the gangs behind them.
Border security ministers and law enforcement agencies have defended the step as a necessary tool to disrupt organised smuggling.
Officials said searches may extend to coats and even the mouth of a detainee if devices are suspected to be hidden. Critics have raised concerns about privacy and the scope of the new powers.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to intensify efforts to ease the migration pressure on Britain and ordered the Home Office to close asylum hotels before the current 2029 target, part of a wider push to reshape asylum management.
Cross channel arrivals reached 41,472 in 2025, the second highest annual total on record.
That figure is up 13 per cent on 2024s 36,816 and 41 per cent on 2023s 29,437, though it remains below the all time high of 45,774 recorded in 2022.
Migration has again become a defining political issue in Britain, influencing party campaigns and public debate.
The rise of Reform UK has been fuelled in part by concerns over Channel crossings and border control, putting further pressure on the government to show rapid results.