Minister rejects Trump’s call for military to tackle illegal migration

The UK military is focused on defending the nation rather than stopping asylum seekers from crossing the Channel, a cabinet minister has said.

US President Donald Trump suggested that military intervention could be used to deal with illegal migration to the UK during his state visit this week.

But Trade Secretary Peter Kyle has rejected that call, telling BBC Breakfast the UK Border Force has specific responsibility for policing UK borders.

He added the navy has a “working relationship” with the Border Force and can be called upon when needed, but was focused on “national defence”.

A second migrant has been returned after losing an eleventh hour legal challenge against his removal, under the government’s “one-in-one out” deal with France.

But several hundred people are en route to Dover in small boats – as the smugglers make the most of a break in the windy weather in the Channel.

Six boats are believed to have set off from northern France on Friday morning. There had been no crossings for a week before then due to choppy seas.

On Thursday, Trump suggested military force was a better deterrent than the Labour government’s approach of diplomatic negotiations agreeing returns and toughening up court guidance.

Speaking alongside Sir Keir Starmer at a press conference at the prime minister’s country residence Chequers, Trump suggested such force was needed as illegal migration “destroys countries from within”.

He said: “You have people coming in and I told the prime minister I would stop it, and it doesn’t matter if you call out the military, it doesn’t matter what means you use.”

Asked about the US president’s claims, Kyle told BBC Breakfast: “Well, what he suggested was the military are used, but we have the UK Border Force that is now established and has been reinforced and bolstered and have new powers under this government.

“The navy actually does have a working relationship with the UK Border Force, and the navy can be called upon if needed, so we do have the functional relationship that we need between our military and keeping our borders safe and secure.

“But what we really need at the moment is our military focused on all of those really key issues around the world, directly relating to our national defence.”

The new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has vowed to fight what she called “vexatious, last-minute claims” and Kyle described her as “straining at the bit” to make sure the pilot one-in-one-out scheme for migrant returns was a success.

“We’re making sure we get as many people as don’t have the right to be here returned as swiftly as possible,” he said, adding there are “a lot of cases” going through court.

Asked whether there was any target figure for the number of returns, Kyle said: “Our target is to make sure that everybody who comes to our shore and doesn’t have the right to stay is removed from the country, that is our target.

“We want to get a full grip on the system, we want to make sure people see a functioning system that’s delivering so rapidly, efficiently and swiftly that people don’t come here in the first place, that’s the deterrent that we need.”

About 100 men who arrived in the UK by small boat are currently in immigration removal centres near Heathrow and may be removed to France under the scheme.

The Home Office said more deportation flights are planned into next week and a government appeal has been launched, aimed at limiting the time migrants have to provide evidence to challenge their removal.

More than 5,500 migrants have reached the UK since the scheme came into effect at the start of August but the government is hoping continuing removal flights will act as a deterrent.