How Brexit ‘allowed a convicted people smuggler’ to live and work in the UK

WorldPolitics
2 Jul 2026 • 5:24 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

How Brexit ‘allowed a convicted people smuggler’ to live and work in the UK

  • A convicted people smuggler, Twana Jamal, previously jailed in France, has been discovered living and working in the UK under a false identity.
  • Immigration officers attribute Jamal's presence to Brexit, citing the UK's loss of access to EU data-sharing agreements, which hinders checks on asylum seekers' criminal records.
  • Lucy Morton of the Immigration Services Union highlighted that sharing databases with European neighbours would help identify individuals with overseas convictions for people smuggling.
  • Jamal, once dubbed 'the godfather' of French migrant camps, reportedly earned significant sums by facilitating illegal Channel crossings between 2012 and 2016.
  • Recent polling indicates that nearly two-thirds of the public believe immigration has worsened since Brexit, with 55 per cent favouring a return to freedom of movement with the EU.

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