LONDON

Labour's recent pledge to ramp up the removal of illegal migrants has drawn sharp criticism from human rights organizations, with Amnesty International UK on Wednesday condemning the strategy as a revival of "age-old" fear tactics.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to significantly increase deportations to levels unseen since Theresa May's government.

The strategy includes deploying 100 new intelligence officers to target human smugglers and reopening immigration removal centers in Hampshire and Oxfordshire.

Steve Valdez-Symonds, the director of Amnesty International UK's Refugee and Migrant Rights Program, strongly opposed the government's approach, accusing Labour of merely "reheating" the rhetoric of previous administrations.

He argued that instead of focusing on deportations and increased border security, the government should prioritize establishing safe and legal routes for asylum seekers.

According to Valdez-Symonds, this would mitigate the risks associated with perilous Channel crossings and protect vulnerable people from exploitation by criminal gangs.

"It’s dismaying to see the new government reheating the last government’s rhetoric over ‘border security’ and ‘smashing gangs’ even while neglecting the pressing need to provide safe asylum routes and a clear guarantee of asylum to refugees arriving here," said Valdez-Symonds.

The charity leader emphasized that people fleeing war and persecution in countries like Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iran will continue to seek safety in the UK.

He warned that the government's focus on a "securitized" approach to immigration would primarily serve to deter and punish those in desperate need, many of whom are already at significant risk of being exploited by human traffickers.

"Increasing immigration powers - including to detain people - rather than making sure existing powers are only used where that is necessary and fair has for decades rewarded Home Office inefficiency and injustice," Valdez-Symonds added.