West Must Help People Thrive in Home Countries to Stop Global Migration Crisis, Says Home Secretary

Britain's Home Secretary James Cleverly makes his way to 10 Downing Street in central London on Feb. 19, 2024. Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images

Home Secretary James Cleverly will urge developed nations to do more to help would-be migrants “stay and thrive at home” to stop the global migration crisis.

During a speech at the Carnegie Council for Ethics on International Affairs on Tuesday in New York, Mr. Cleverly will encourage countries to invest in international development as well as increase global trade in order to reduce some of the driving factors of migration.

He will also challenge counterparts to dismantle people-smuggling networks and support countries that want to settle more refugees.

“While remaining welcoming and generous, we must also urgently consider the impact that this level of migration has not just on those countries where migrants seek to settle, or through which they transit, but also on the countries they leave behind, and indeed on the migrants themselves.

“We need to do more, together,” Mr. Cleverly will tell the audience, according to preview comments published by the UK government.

The Cost of Emigration

He will also warn of the effects of mass emigration on home nations, challenging the notion that relocating people to the West is always the right course of action.

“A talent drain can have a devastating effect, causing a flight of capital, huge gaps in the workforce, and security issues,” Mr. Cleverly will say, noting the extreme cost for countries to train professionals who leave the country and take their much-needed skills elsewhere.

“Furthermore, citizens will suffer if their country fails to invest in skills and training and then plugs those gaps with immigration,” he will say.

“Doing the right thing by someone in need doesn’t necessarily mean relocating them to our own country. Central to solving the international migration challenge is doing more, collectively, to help people to stay and thrive at home,” the minister will state.

Calling for a global response to stop mass illegal migration, Mr. Cleverly will say that the UK is leading the way with its migration policy.

He will highlight the UK securing returns agreements with Serbia and Georgia and Border Force working closely with France and the EU’s border agency Frontex on migrant intelligence-sharing and jointly tackling people-smuggling gangs. The government is also making major investments in Rwanda as part of the UK’s Migration and Economic Development Partnership plan.

‘Goodwill’ of UK Must Not Be Eroded

The home secretary is in New York on the second of a two-day trip to the United States. On Monday, the minister was in San Francisco to speak to leading tech companies concerning the possible uses and critical threats from emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Discussing his planned migration speech on Monday, Mr. Cleverly said that while he will state it is important for nations like the UK to help those in need from around the world, “I will also make the point that that can’t always mean that we take all those people into our own country.”

Mr. Cleverly continued, “Many people seek asylum and are granted asylum in the UK, we have a strong and proud tradition of that.”

“But, ultimately, we want to try and reduce the number of people that are displaced, reduce the number of people who need refuge and ensure that the goodwill of the UK is not eroded by people abusing the system by coming here illegally and by the people smugglers who prey on the weak and the vulnerable,” he added.

Boat Migration Down by More Than a Third

On Sunday, the provisional numbers for small boat migrant arrivals via the English Channel topped 2,000 for this year. This is 32 percent lower than the total recorded for the same time last year when 2,953 migrants had arrived, but 49 percent higher than the total for this stage in 2022, when 1,482 illegal entrants were recorded.

Last year, 29,437 migrants illegally arrived in the UK on small boats, down 36 percent on a record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.

The government said in a statement on Monday that this decrease was achieved in part owing to “international cooperation,” including with France and Albania.

In November 2022, the UK signed a new deal with France to tackle illegal migration via the English Channel. London increased annual payments to Paris from £55 million to £63 million, in exchange for France increasing beach patrols and deploying more officers, as well as investing in more surveillance tools and border enforcement equipment.

The government said its deal with Tirana had resulted in Albanian arrivals going down by more than 90 percent.

PA Media contributed to this report.