Shabana Mahmood’s Asylum Plans Will Put Human Trafficking Victims at Risk, Warn Anti-Slavery Groups

Campaigners against modern slavery and human trafficking have told Byline Times that the Government’s new asylum and immigration proposals – including key legal changes to the ECHR and the Modern Slavery Act – are likely to worsen the conditions that lead to human-trafficking, labour and sexual exploitation and forced criminality. It could do so by making immigration status more precarious and access to support much more limited, they claim.

While Mahmood has framed the proposals as a moral imperative to fix a broken system, campaigners warn that they will only fuel further instability, fear, and division.

A series of weekend press briefings from Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood set out what she calls “the most sweeping asylum reforms in modern times.” The package, published on Monday, is based on the argument that “illegal migration is making this country a more divided place.”

The reforms aim to cut the number of people seeking asylum through “tough” deterrence measures designed to reduce “pull factors,” expand the Government’s ability to deport refused applicants, and create a small number of “safe and legal” routes initially capped at “a few hundred” people – a fraction of the tens of thousands who currently apply for asylum annually.

Many of the measures would leave people in the UK for long periods on short, renewable permissions to stay, with repeated reassessments and no clear route to long-term security. The plans also involve reinterpretations of key protections in the European Convention on Human Rights and the Modern Slavery Act.

While publicly welcomed by figures including Kemi Badenoch, Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, the Danish-inspired model was condemned by multiple Labour MPs, charities and advocacy groups as cruel, short-sighted and performative.

“Everyone, regardless of where they are from and how they move, must be able to live in safety and with dignity,” Sian Lea, Head of UK and European Advocacy at Anti-Slavery International, told Byline Times. “Instead of centring compassion, the UK Government is doubling down on harmful rhetoric and policies espoused by its predecessor.”

Mahmood argues that the strict new rules will deter people from paying criminal gangs. But Anti-Slavery International has warned that an inadequate number of safe routes actually “increases the profitability of smuggling and people trafficking.”

Anti-Slavery International also warned that the reforms could pose specific risks for people affected by modern slavery – defined as exploitation “for personal or commercial gain,” including trafficking, forced labour and debt bondage.

“We know that policies based on border security and enforcement create and exacerbate the conditions that perpetuate modern slavery,” Lea said. “Precarious immigration status only pushes people further into the hands of exploiters by increasing fear of authorities and creating additional barriers to accessing work, education or other crucial support.”

Asylum seekers in the UK are generally banned from working while their claims are processed, given around £7 per day and housed in Government accommodation such as asylum hotels. Labour-exploitation researchers argue this leaves people “in a state of limbo,” often working in the “shadow” economy where they’re highly vulnerable to abuse and dependent on “exploitative employers or landlords for survival.” People working irregularly are often too afraid to report mistreatment for fear of immigration enforcement, they add.

Research from human rights group Walk Free has found that migrant workers are three times more likely to be victims of forced labour than local workers. The British Red Cross and UNHCR have widely documented exploitation among people seeking asylum in the UK, including domestic servitude, sexual and labour exploitation and forced criminality.

At the same time, the Home Secretary’s plans would narrow key legal protections. Articles 8 and 3 of the ECHR – the rights to family life and to protection from inhuman or degrading treatment – are set to be reinterpreted to make removals easier. Mahmood has also claimed that some asylum seekers are “misusing” the Modern Slavery Act to “block their removal,” accusing people of submitting “vexatious last-minute claims” before deportation flights.

But Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Eleanor Lyons has said Parliament has found no evidence of widespread misuse and noted that victims cannot “self-declare” their trafficking status. The Home Office is the “decider” in verifying cases of modern slavery.

The Government plans an “overhaul” of the Modern Slavery Act which it says will “address potential misuse while maintaining essential protections.”

“With the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and its commitment to ECAT [The European Convention Against Trafficking Human Beings], the UK has the potential to lead the fight against human trafficking,” Lea said. “Reform of this system is a dangerous step for the UK Government, both in terms of the potential harm it will have on the thousands of victims, but also in terms of the UK’s reputation as a leader.”

The Anti-Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit (ATLEU) told Byline Times it was “deeply concerned” about any weakening of protections.“Survivors need time and stability to recover and to support the prosecution of their exploiters,” a spokesperson said. “Attacks on a system that should protect victims of crime will not help survivors feel safe and risk pushing more of them underground.”

Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Director, called the proposals “divisive and cruel.” 

“Forcing refugees into endless short-term applications, denying visas to partners and children and stripping away support for people who would otherwise be destitute will only deepen chaos, increase costs and hand greater power to people smugglers,” he said.

In Parliament on Monday, Labour MP Nadia Whittome said the plans to restrict family reunion “will force children and spouses into the hands of the very people smugglers that the Home Secretary is seeking to smash,” pushing them onto “unsafe dinghies risking their lives.” Other MPs raised concerns in debate about the potential detention of children, 

Labour MP Catherine West asked Mahmood on Monday about failed asylum seekers forced into homelessness and poverty. Mahmood countered that “the best thing [for them] to do is to voluntarily leave the country”. The Home Secretary was also unable to give an assurance to John McDonnell MP that “no child will be placed in detention as a result of this policy.”

“The way this Government are treating some of the most vulnerable people in the world is disgusting,” said Green party leader Zack Polanski. “And they then have the audacity to pretend it’s coming from a place of compassion and concern. Their only concern seems to be dancing to the tune of the far right.”

“This is a government of cowards,” said Polanski. “I want [asylum seekers] to be able to come here to a processing centre in a way that is dignified and treats people with humanity rather than as numbers or pieces or crap.”

“If we allow people to work,” he added, “we know that migration is of economic benefit. There’s 150,000 vacancies in the NHS, we have vacancies in the construction industry, and we have an aging population.”

A spokesperson for ATLEU said: “Rather than inflicting harm on survivors, the government should focus on investing in existing systems to ensure that it makes fair decisions, in a reasonable time, with crucial access to free legal advice from the start.”

“The Government is responsible for keeping people safe and safeguarding those at risk,” Sian Lea of Anti-Slavery International added. “We urge the UK Government to reverse its hostile approach, prevent exploitation by protecting and safeguarding survivors, and restore humanity to its treatment of those in need of protection.”

Defending the reforms, Mahmood invoked her own background: “I am a child of migrants myself,” she said. “This is a moral mission for me, because I can see illegal migration is tearing our country apart. It is dividing communities.”

But human rights organisations have rebuked Mahmood’s moral framing. “This headline-chasing cruelty will not fix the immigration system,” Valdez-Symonds of Amnesty International said. “It will only fuel fear, worsen instability and give legitimacy to the most divisive politics.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “This Government is committed to protecting the integrity of our asylum and modern slavery systems, ensuring they work effectively for victims while preventing misuse.”

“We are carefully considering the most appropriate pathways for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, asylum-seeking families with children, and other vulnerable individuals, taking full account of their needs and circumstances.”