British police are set to gain enhanced powers at ports, enabling officers to compel illegal migrants to remove outer garments and undergo mouth searches.
The measures aim to uncover mobile phones or SIM cards, crucial for gathering intelligence on their journeys.
The Home Office said these new capabilities will bolster investigations targeting criminal networks implicated in smuggling migrants across the Channel.
It said that such gangs frequently exploit phone contacts and social media to recruit people for small-boat crossings from France, which have reached unprecedented levels this year.
Home Office sources told the BBC that children could be subject to the searches if deemed necessary.
This policy shift also reflects the Labour government’s hardening stance on immigration, particularly illegal entry, as it seeks to counter the rising popularity of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and its influence on the immigration agenda.
The law is expected to receive Royal Assent – a formality that does not involve further debate – in the coming days.
Officers will be able to make migrants remove coats, jackets or gloves to search for devices and may inspect mouths for concealed SIM cards or small electronics, the Home Office said.
The government department, led by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, explained that previously, mobile phone searches were only possible after a migrant’s arrest, adding that the new powers would let officers collect information faster.
Polls suggest that immigration has overtaken the economy as British voters’ top concern.
Over the summer, a raft of protests took place outside hotels housing asylum seekers at public expense.
The government’s tougher stance on migration has been criticised by some human rights groups, which argue that some policies scapegoat migrants and fuel racism and violence.
“Using invasive powers to search through the clothing – and even inside the mouths – of desperate and traumatised people when they have just survived a terrifying journey across the Channel is a dystopian act of brutality,” said Sile Reynolds, Head of Asylum Advocacy at Freedom from Torture.
