THE government is going in the wrong direction, refugee groups warned today after it promised “a large surge” in return flights for migrants and new detention centres.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced today that the Border Security Command is “gearing up” after the number of people crossing the English Channel in small boats topped 19,000 this year so far.

The figure is 10 per cent higher than last year, but 10 per cent down from 2022.

In addition to new beds at immigration removal centres (IRCs) near Oxford and Portsmouth, Ms Cooper plans to boost staffing at the National Crime Agency (NCA), which investigates people smuggling and trafficking groups along with police, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force.

She said: “By increasing enforcement capabilities and returns, we will establish a system that is better controlled and managed, in place of the chaos that has blighted the system for far too long.”

Care4Calais CEO Steve Smith said that Labour’s continued investment in border security rather than workable solutions is “repeating the mistakes of the last government.”

He said: “The evidence shows that these so-called deterrents don’t work.

“They do nothing to reduce Channel crossings, they just force people to take greater risks.

“The only way to stop crossings, and to save lives, is to create safe routes for people to claim asylum in the UK.

“That’s what the new government should be focusing on.”

Refugee Action chief executive Tim Naor Hilton also hit out at the government’s focus on criminality and returns instead of “laying out a positive vision for people seeking asylum.”

He said: “The risk is that this focus – without any attempt to understand and explain why people move – creates conditions for more dehumanisation and hostility.

“Once again, the people most likely to get caught up in these detain-and-deport policies will be from racialised communities and from countries that were once British colonies.”

Mr Hilton said that ministers should heed the lessons of the Windrush scandal, adding: “The government must focus on creating an anti-racist asylum system that respects people’s rights, lifts the ban on work, and houses people in dignity in our communities.”

Refugee Council’s Enver Solomon said that unless the government also provides safe routes, “it won’t succeed in stopping the boats.”

He told BBC Radio 4: “Detention is costly. It results in people harming themselves. It results in huge damage to people’s mental health.”

Detention Action director James Wilson also hit out at IRC plans, calling it “a disappointing step away from a fairer and more humane immigration system.”

He said: “Immigration detention centres are a hidden space where people are locked in small cells for up to 12 hours a day and frequently denied legal support and appropriate medical care.

“The use of immigration detention is inherently damaging to people’s mental health, especially because people are detained without a fixed time limit.”

The Labour government has pledged 290 added immigration removal beds at Campsfield House in Kidlington, Oxfordshire and Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire – centres previously closed down in 2019 and 2015.

Documents lodged with Cherwell District Council under the Tories proposed Campsfield would reopen with an increased capacity of 400 detainees, up from 160.

And Gosport Borough Council green-lit demolition work at Haslar ahead of refurbishment earlier this year.

Protesters gathered outside Campsfield on Tuesday, after the announcement was made, to oppose the plans.

Bill Mackeith of the Coalition to Keep Campsfield Closed said local opposition “is clear,” adding: “Alternatives to detention exist and we call for the government to continue the programme of pilots that was introduced with the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.”

Over the next six months, ministers are aiming to achieve “the highest rate of removals of those with no right to be here, including failed asylum-seekers” since 2018, according to the Home Office.

The previous Tory government spent around £700 million on its flagship Rwanda scheme before the general election earlier this year, according to Labour ministers’ figures unveiled in July.

Just four volunteers arrived in Rwanda and Sir Keir Starmer declared the scheme “dead and buried” within two days of becoming Prime Minister.