Migrants should be tagged so they can be tracked, policing chief says

The Conservative PCC wants to trial the scheme on single adult males heading to Crowborough Training Camp, a former Army barracks in East Sussex, where the government intends to house up to 540 asylum seekers.

PCC Bourne reckons the tags would help prevent crime while giving migrants more freedom to move around and potentially find temporary work.

She pointed to a trial scheme launched earlier in 2025 in Sussex, where persistent shoplifters were fitted with electronic tags and banned from entering certain areas.

Courts handed out 12-month orders, with anyone breaking the rules facing up to five years behind bars.

"Initial results showed offenders changing behaviour," she told the BBC.

The PCC argued that police face real difficulties tracking down asylum seekers who have "very little official ID or existing digital footprint" in the UK.

"With thousands of people awaiting asylum processing, the potential for them to become involved in crime - as a perpetrator or victim - is inevitable," PCC Bourne said.

She added that anyone refusing to wear a tag would signal they're planning to abscond or get involved in unlawful activity.

The Conservatives rallied behind PCC Bourne's proposal.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Daily Mail that "anything that keeps tabs better on these illegal immigrants is welcome, especially given the sex crimes they commit against women and girls".

Tory MP for East Grinstead and Uckfield, Mims Davies, backed local sentiment, saying many constituents want asylum seekers "tagged and tracked and registered properly".

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage took a different view, telling the Daily Mail that PCC Bourne's proposals are "not the answer" because "none of these men should be free to roam the streets".

Both the Conservatives and Reform UK have committed to quitting the ECHR as part of their immigration strategies.

Green deputy leader Rachel Millward pushed back against the tagging idea.

She said PCC Bourne "should know better," given that the previous Conservative government had already trialled tagging asylum seekers and it was found unlawful.

Ms Millward has separately voiced opposition to housing asylum seekers at Crowborough, citing safety concerns for both local residents and the migrants themselves in a letter to the Home Office back in October.

The Home Office made its standpoint on GPS tagging clear: "Without that circumstance, it would breach human rights or be impractical," a spokesman said.

It led Mr Philp to question the government's priorities: "The government response to Katy's tagging plan says that tagging illegal immigrants in asylum accommodation would break their human rights.

"What about the human rights of the women and girls who have been raped and sexually assaulted by illegal immigrants living in asylum accommodation?"

Migrant charity Ramfel hit back hard at the proposal, describing it as "cruel, punitive and will simply funnel yet more public money into the hands of private companies".

The organisation pointed out that these are people seeking asylum who haven't been accused of any crime.

Ramfel offered an alternative solution: "If the government is serious about saving public funds and reducing crime, they should grant people seeking asylum the right to work whilst their claims are being processed."

This approach, they argued, would let asylum seekers enter the formal labour market and support themselves, cutting the need for hotels, army barracks and other temporary accommodation.

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