The social media campaign has been launched in Vietnam to deter migrants from coming to the UK illegally (Picture: Home Office/PA)
The government has released videos aimed to deter illegal migrants from Vietnam entering the UK.
The campaign starts today and uses YouTube and Facebook adverts to target people in Vietnam to ‘set out the risks of being indebted to and exploited by the people-smuggling gangs who profit from facilitating small boat crossings’.
One advert shows a migrant sharing his experience of sleeping in a camp in Calais for five nights with armed guards.
The migrant, referred to as K, says: ‘Never again would I risk my life in a small boat, even if you bribed me.’
He travelled from France to the UK in a small boat.
The campaign will also direct people to a website that shows videos from Border Force officials describing ‘shocking cases’ and their experience of ‘rescuing small boat migrants from life-threatening danger in the Channel’.
The Home Office said an increasing proportion of small boat migrants are Vietnamese and make up one of the top 10 migrants for crossing the Channel.
The campaign also warns Vietnamese migrants of the ‘reality of living in the UK illegally with no right to be in the UK and no access to public services or funding’, and uses ‘real testimonies from those who regret coming to the UK illegally’.
People smuggling gangs send migrants out on small dinghies when they cross the Channel (Picture: Getty Images)
The Home Office said it already works closely with Vietnamese authorities to prevent illegal journeys to the UK and removes people with no right to be in the country.
It follows the launch of similar social media campaigns in Albania, France and Belgium.
The Home Office added similar campaigns were ‘also being considered for other priority countries’.
Senior officials from the UK and Vietnam are due to meet in London on April 17, to ‘discuss working in even closer partnership on migration issues’.
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Home Secretary James Cleverly said: ‘This is a powerful campaign which demonstrates first-hand that life for people arriving here illegally is a far cry from the lies they have been sold by the gangs on the other side of the Channel.
‘Last year, similar work contributed to a 90% reduction in small boat arrivals from Albania, and overall numbers are down by a third, but there is more to do.
‘Expanding our campaign to Vietnam, another key partner in our work to tackle illegal migration, will help us to save more lives and dent the business model of the criminals who profit from this vile trade.’
But other figures from the government show in the year ending June 2023, there were 52,530 irregular migrants detected entering the UK, up 17% from the year ending June 2022 – 85% of these arrived via small boats.
Small boats have been the predominant way migrants have entered the UK since 2020.
They continue to be the predominant recorded method of illegal entry into the UK despite other entry methods becoming more viable since the end of the pandemic.
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