UK expands campaign to stop migrant smugglers and their lies
Source: gov.uk (2025-03-04)

Digital advertising launches today in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to warn prospective migrants about people smugglers' lies.

Digital advertising launched today in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) as part of the government’s international campaign to warn prospective migrants about people smugglers’ lies, expanding on the campaigns in Vietnam and Albania.

Quotes from real migrants who have attempted the journey are featured, to counter the myths and misinformation peddled by criminals to dupe people online, as the UK government secures its borders as part of the Plan for Change.

The campaign forms part of this government’s work to expand the UK’s international partnerships and boost cooperation, to dismantle the people smuggling gangs operating across borders and protect vulnerable people, delivered through the Border Security Command.

It comes as the UK is set to sign a joint communiqué today (4 March 2025) with the Vietnamese government at the third annual UK-Vietnam Migration Dialogue, hosted in Hanoi, agreeing to build on our joint work to prevent the exploitation of irregular migrants, disrupt criminal gang operations, strengthen intelligence sharing and return those with no right to be in the UK.

The communiqué includes commitments to enable swifter and more effective returns, and for the UK government to continue its communications campaign in Vietnam to tackle migrant smugglers’ lies.

Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle, said:

Ruthless criminal gangs spread dangerous lies on social media to exploit people for money, and we are exposing them using the real stories of their victims.

This campaign helps to break the business model of these criminals and protect people from falling victim, securing our borders as part of the government’s Plan for Change.

No one should be in any doubt that putting your life in the hands of a smuggler is not worth the risk. Too many people have died in the English Channel at the hands of these criminals, and we will stop at nothing to bring them to justice.

The UK’s Border Security Commander, Martin Hewitt, also visited Iraq and the KRI last week, to progress the world-first agreements reached between the Federal Government of Iraq and the UK Government in November and further progress our cooperation on strengthening mutual border security.

He met with senior officials in the Federal Government of Iraq and within the Kurdistan Regional Government and its agencies to discuss ongoing cooperation, including increased joint working to tackle organised immigration crime and strengthen our mutual border security co-operation.

Through the Border Security Command, the UK government is working on a whole system approach, preventing irregular migration through communications, increasing international collaboration to tackle this issue across borders, and arming law enforcement with the powers it needs.

Bold new counterterror-style powers in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which is back in Parliament today for committee stage, will help bolster law enforcement to intercept and smash the people smuggling gangs earlier and faster.

This includes stronger powers to seize and search mobile phones to investigate organised immigration crime and new offences against gangs conspiring to plan crossings, selling or handling small boat parts for use in the Channel, or supplying forged identity documents for migrants attempting to come here illegally.

Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt, said:

International partnerships are an essential part of our work to stop criminal gangs operating across borders to exploit vulnerable people.

By strengthening these relationships and working closely with law enforcement partners across the world, we will bring down these gangs, break their business models, and put a stop to the misery and harm they inflict.

Communications are an important part of this work, and our international campaign is sending a clear message to prospective migrants that these criminals cannot be trusted.

The Home Office has today published a short film explaining the Border Security Command’s mission, its work to date, and its future plans.

The video features the Border Security Commander, Martin Hewitt, and key staff setting out the challenge the UK faces from criminal gangs determined to abuse our borders and exploit people for profit, and how the Border Security Command will defeat them and bring them to justice.

The UK’s international communications campaign will also ramp up this year to inform prospective migrants at every stage of the journey about the risks and realities of entering the UK illegally, including informing diaspora communities in the UK about the dangers their friends and families overseas face from people smugglers.