CGTN Europe discussed this with Harjap Singh Bhangal, UK Immigration Lawyer
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00:00Venezuela has resumed repatriation flights for migrants from the United States.
00:05It comes after the White House said it would revoke the temporary legal status
00:09of more than half a million people from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua.
00:14They've been told to leave the United States before April the 24th.
00:18They entered the U.S. under a government sponsorship scheme.
00:21Let's get more on this now with Harjit Singh Bangal, a U.K. immigration lawyer.
00:25Thank you very much indeed for being with us today.
00:28There's a lot of strands to this incredibly complex issue.
00:32Let's start with the situation in the United States, this deportation of migrants.
00:37How much could that further destabilize the situation for migrants around the world?
00:41I think everyone is looking at America at the moment in relation to what sort of schemes
00:46and what sort of policies it's using towards migration.
00:49And if successful in America, these policies, then people in Europe, the voters,
00:54will definitely ask their respective governments, well, why can't you do this if America is doing this?
00:59So it has the potential definitely to destabilize a lot of things for migrants
01:05and make life tougher, I think, for migrants and sort of correspond
01:10and reflect the growing attitude of countries and governments towards migrants
01:15in the fact that it's a hostile environment.
01:18Yeah. And I was just pointing out just how deadly it was last year for migrants
01:23in terms of deaths, just so many people dying.
01:26Will this worsen, do you think? Will this trend worsen?
01:29And what impact do you think that there could be from these funding cuts
01:33that have been announced to the International Organization for Migration?
01:36That's very sad to hear about the funding cuts because the International Organization for Migration
01:41does a lot of research and does a lot of work in relation to migration
01:45and issues a lot of papers and advice in that regard.
01:51So cutting the funding will allow them not to do that anymore.
01:55And that sort of is not only tragic, but this is going to be more and more dangerous for migrants
02:01to get to places safely, to be offered refuge.
02:05We're going to see more perilous journeys. The agents will sell the product more.
02:09If something becomes less available and the demand is high, the price goes up.
02:14So then the agents will be doing more dangerous journeys
02:18and we can expect more tragedies, unfortunately, unless there's a sort of plan to replace.
02:23Well, what are we going to have? You're going to deport people.
02:26But what are you going to do instead? There's no backup plan. There's no alternative there.
02:29Just sending people back and then there'll be traffic back again
02:33or allowing them to be re-trafficked again. It's not a great policy.
02:36Let's talk more about the specifics then. You mentioned the hostile environment,
02:40something we associated with the previous Conservative government here in the UK.
02:45We now have a Labour government. They are tightening immigration policies.
02:49Public backing is something that they do have for tighter immigration rules.
02:54But how does the government balance that with humanitarian responsibilities?
02:58Well, I think most governments and parties pander to votes
03:01and the only reason they're in is because of the voters.
03:04Now, immigration is a top three issue in this country and this election and in many countries.
03:09The government is keen, this Labour party is keen, to get the reform voters
03:13and the Conservative voters who have been upset with the Conservative party on their side.
03:18And one of the pledges was to reduce migration and less visas, which Labour has done,
03:23increase the amount of people going back, which it has done as well.
03:26The only thing thorn in Labour's side at the moment is the small boats.
03:29And that's now what they're considering, you know, because we've seen record numbers already.
03:33Over 5,000 have come in and it's only March in relation to the past five, six years.
03:39It's the highest number that have come in. So they have to deal with that.
03:42And the rest of Europe seems to be going that way as well.
03:45Italy we've seen with its scheme, with Albania, where it's opening centres, holding centres in Albania.
03:51And recently Poland announcing we're not going to accept any more refugees.
03:55All of sort of consensus around Europe, America and even the UK now is,
04:00well, hold on, we have to stop these people coming into our country.
04:04Stop the number of visas being given. Record numbers were given under a Conservative government.
04:09And let's send more people back who shouldn't be here.
04:12That seems to be the consensus around it. And Labour is following that line.
04:15And it's going to be hard for them to balance it as the party seems soft on migration.
04:20When in fact, when you look at the figures, they're not.
04:22In 2009, Labour was sending back 60,000 people a year.
04:27They were actually the party that immigration was working under.
04:31And so we have this image of Tory's tough and Labour's not tough.
04:35Indeed. Well, it's a huge issue. But thank you so much for coming in to talk to us about it.
04:39Harjit Singh Bangal, UK immigration lawyer.