Home Office plans to immediately begin seizing asylum seekers’ mobile phones and sim cards without the need for an arrest have been condemned by a solicitor and anti-torture campaigners.
People who arrive by small boat and are sent to Manston processing centre in Kent will from Monday be eligible for searches for electronic devices, a minister has said, with technology on site to download data.
Officials will be allowed to search inside the mouths of detainees for hidden technology, but have so far declined to confirm whether they will also be allowed to search children.
Keir Starmer is attempting to clamp down on unauthorised immigration across the Channel as he tries to combat the electoral threat of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party.
Natasha Tsangarides, an associate director at the NGO Freedom from Torture, said: “Subjecting desperate and traumatised men, women and children to invasive searches – including examinations of their clothing and even inside their mouths – immediately after they have survived a terrifying Channel crossing is profoundly inhumane.
“Applying these powers indiscriminately to everyone arriving by small boat risks treating all refugees as a security threat, regardless of evidence, and shows a shocking disregard for the fundamental right to privacy.”
A solicitor whose firm represents dozens of asylum claimants has questioned whether the government’s plans will comply with a 2022 high court ruling on mobile phone seizures.
Jonah Mendelsohn, from Wilson Solicitors, said the government has not identified any form of independent oversight to ensure that searches are fair and legal.
“To comply with the legal standards identified by the high court, the use of intrusive searches and data extraction requires independent authorisation and oversight,” Mendelsohn said. “It is not clear whether the legislation embeds such safeguards.
“The suggestion that mobile phone searches will be rolled out at Manston also heightens concerns that searches will be carried out on new arrivals on a blanket basis, risking a re-run of the very failures previously identified by the courts.”
Thousands of asylum seekers who arrive in the UK after crossing the Channel on dinghies are processed at the site near Ramsgate in Kent by Home Office officials and contractors. Many of the new arrivals are vulnerable and arrive in the UK traumatised.
Under new powers, officers will be entitled to make arrivals remove an outer coat, jacket or gloves at UK ports to search for devices. They will also be able to conduct searches inside someone’s mouth for a hidden sim card or small electronic device.
Home Office sources have previously told the Guardian that, if deemed clearly necessary and proportionate, children could also be subjected to these searches.
Officials say the mobile phone searches will enable them to collect intelligence on asylum seekers’ journeys and to arrest people-smugglers. The powers come after the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act became law in December.
Alex Norris, the borders minister, said: “We are implementing robust new laws with powerful offences to intercept, disrupt and dismantle these vile gangs faster than ever before and cut off their supply chains.”
On Sunday, the prime minister said that the UK will start to see “evidence” of asylum hotel closures in the coming months.
Starmer told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I’ve said to the system, to the relevant departments, I want to see that brought forward as soon as possible, but no longer the end of parliament. Bring it forward.
“I want us to close hotels. I think over coming months you’ll see evidence of that.”
The Guardian has disclosed that the Home Office plans to send the first group of asylum seekers to a military site in East Sussex within weeks.
A total of 41,472 migrants arrived in the UK in 2025 after crossing the Channel – the second highest annual figure on record.
The yearly total was 13% higher than the figure for 2024, when 36,816 migrants made the journey, and 41% higher than 2023’s total of 29,437. It was 9% below the all-time high of 45,774 in 2022.
Opinion polls put Reform significantly ahead of Labour, with a More in Common poll suggesting the party would win 381 seats.
The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.
If you have something to share on this subject, you can contact us confidentially using the following methods.
Secure Messaging in the Guardian app
The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.
If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select ‘Secure Messaging’.
SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post
If you can safely use the Tor network without being observed or monitored, you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform.
Finally, our guide at theguardian.com/tips lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.
