ILLEGAL migrants’ valuables such as jewellery and watches will be seized and sold to pay towards their accommodation costs, The Sun can reveal today.
Necklaces and chains — but not wedding rings — and other high-value items acquired in the UK including cars and bikes will also be confiscated as part of a crackdown on small-boat arrivals.
The curbs would also target thousands of asylum seekers in hotels who first came to Britain legally and own assets such as cars.
And it would allow e-bikes seized from illegal migrant delivery drivers to be sold to go towards their hotel costs.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is today expected to unveil the policy she hopes will weaken the UK’s appeal as a destination for illegal migrants and cut the sky-high asylum bill.
Many arrivals cost the taxpayer tens of thousands in support despite having assets of their own, and spending on asylum costs since 2019 is estimated to hit £15billion by the next election.
TONY PARSONS
We got sick of Tories changing PMs… why there MUST be election if Keir exits
HOME TRUTHS
PM’s standards advisor says Rachel Reeves made an ‘unfortunate error’
Ms Mahmood’s “contribution” scheme mirrors Denmark’s tough system which has slashed bogus claims and forced arrivals with cash to cover their costs.
Human rights groups called the “Jewellery Law” inhumane and degrading, and the UN said it fuelled a hatred of foreigners — yet the Danish authorities pointed out native citizens claiming benefits face the same rules.
The approach did, however, trigger fierce criticism when Danish police first seized asylum seekers’ valuables and it is expected to enrage left-wingers in the UK, including Labour MPs.
Home Office figures show the UK has already taken 39,075 small-boat arrivals this year, topping the annual totals for 2024 (36,816) and 2023 (29,437).
As The Sun revealed last week, Ms Mahmood is weighing up a student-loan-style scheme forcing those granted asylum to repay hotel and benefit costs once they start work.
In today’s broader blitz — a “moral mission”, says Ms Mahmood — she will set out to rewrite human rights rules and tell judges to put public safety before migrants’ claims to family life.
She also wants to make it easier to kick out those with no right to stay and try to prevent legal delays with a new “one-stop-shop” asylum system.
Those losing an appeal will have to leave. Refusal will lead to removal.
In a bid to prevent European courts from putting foreign criminals’ rights above those of British communities, Ms Mahmood will usher in laws to reform how judges interpret the European Convention on Human Rights.
When interpreting Article 8 — the right to a family life — public safety will take precedence over family reunions, and “family” will be narrowed to mean parent or child.
Changes to Article 3 — protection against inhuman and degrading treatment — will target dubious claims of torture used to block removals by narrowing the definition of abuse.
The Home Secretary will also scrap the option to revive failed, last-minute modern slavery claims.
Illegal migrants will be returned to their home nation once it is deemed safe and face a 20-year wait for settled UK status.
Indefinite stay will depend on being in work, paying National Insurance, not claiming benefits and avoiding a criminal record.
Those with the right to work who choose not to do so could be denied housing and benefits.
Ms Mahmood, whose parents were migrants, told the BBC yesterday: “I really reject this idea that dealing with this problem is somehow engaging in far-right talking points.
“People can see huge pressure in their communities and they can also see a system that is broken, and where people are able to flout the rules.”
HORROR TOWN
Our once proud town is besieged by masked machete yobs – even cops are targets
CRUEL ORDEAL
I was blinded & my pals were killed by dangerous trend in Brit holiday hotspot
But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “The only way to stop illegal immigration and deport all illegal immigrants and foreign criminals is to come out of the ECHR completely.
“Tinkering around the edges as Labour proposes won’t work.”