Britain’s migrant crisis must be treated as a national security issue because it is “destabilising” the country, the Government’s terrorism tsar has warned. Jonathan Hall told Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood “national security is the health of the nation”, with tensions over immigration threatening to rip communities into pieces.
Jonathan Hall's Warning
Mr Hall, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, pointed towards Donald Trump’s warning that mass migration is destabilising Europe. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m interested in whether foreign nationality is becoming more relevant to the national security picture. It makes me think of something, which I haven’t really heard a good answer to in the UK, which is what was said in Trump’s national security strategy in November 2025.
“He said there’s this destabilisation of Europe. He put an awful lot of that down to migration. It does raise the question if certain countries are more likely to commit either serious offences or particular offences, or to get involved in state-threat activity, do we need to start thinking about migration not simply in terms of the economy or housing but also in terms of national security.”
Belfast Stabbing Incident
The admission comes after Sudanese asylum seeker Hadi Alodid allegedly stabbed a man in the head and neck in the middle of the street in Belfast. A police detective told a Belfast court the man injured in the ferocious assault on Monday has lost his left eye. She also told the court that the defendant said “I’ve killed someone, I don’t know if they are dead” while in hospital receiving treatment for a hand injury and told medical staff “I will kill you”. Alodid claimed asylum in Belfast after travelling across the border from Dublin on a bus, prompting fears the soft border is being abused.
Impact on Communities
Mr Hall added of the attack in Belfast: “It has had huge ramifications for this country. It is extraordinarily destabilising.” He said: “National security is the health of the nation and having a stable nation that feels it can go about its business. At the moment, you have people who happen to be black and brown, but who are as British as you and me, who probably don’t feel as though they can go about their business. That is destabilising to the nation.”
Violent Protests and Police Response
The atrocity in Belfast sparked violent protests, with families burnt out of their homes. The Chief Constable of the PSNI said a two-month-old baby was rescued during the violence. Chief Constable Jon Boutcher told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster: “Last night we rescued so many families. Taking families – a baby as young as two months – out of their address to safety, taking them to police stations.” He added: “And by the way, these weren’t just families from ethnic minority communities, these were families from across communities that were caught up in this vile behaviour last night. There is absolutely no excuse for it.”
Court Warning
A judge has warned that anyone who plans to take part in further disorder in Northern Ireland should “be prepared to go to prison” and said the courts “won’t tolerate” any attacks on emergency services. After refusing bail for a man charged with attempted murder in a stabbing incident preceding riots and violence in Belfast, judge Stephen Keown commended the emergency services who came to the aid of the victim. Speaking at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, he said that the court’s thoughts were with the victim, the members of the public who intervened and the emergency services who went to the victims’ aid. He said those members of the public, the police and the emergency services should be commended. He said that emergency services who had helped the victim now coming “under attack is something the courts won’t tolerate”. He noted that there is a call on social media for men aged over 18 to close streets, wear dark clothes and to be prepared to fight and be arrested. He said that anyone involved in attacks on the community and members of the community can “also expect to go to prison, and that message should be sent out loud and clear”.
