Migrants bussed 500 miles to be held in Scotland
Nats slam ‘shameful’ treatment
THE SNP yesterday condemned sending migrants who risk their lives crossing the English Channel to the Dungavel detention centre for processing.
Dozens have been sent to the notorious immigration detention centre in Strathaven, Lanarkshire, as the Home Office buckles under the rising numbers.
SNP immigration spokeswoman Anne McLaughlan said: “The vast majority of people who cross the channel have survived significant trauma – to then stick them on a bus for a 500-mile trip to be processed and kept in a detention centre in Scotland is inhumane and shameful.
“The UK Government must also guarantee that there are no children making this trip.”
The number of people who have made the dangerous journey across the Channel has reached three times the total for the whole of 2020.
At least 886 people succeeded in reaching the UK on Saturday, bringing the total for the year to more than 25,600.
Tensions with France, already strained amid Brexit rows over fishing and Northern Ireland, have escalated in recent weeks.
Until crossings rose to record levels, those arriving on the Kent coast were taken to short-term holding facilities nearby.
But according to refugee charities, migrants are being sent on a 500-mile, eight hour bus journey from the landing sites to Dungavel, which is usually used to hold failed asylum seekers before they are deported.
There have been calls to shut down the Dungavel Centre after reports of the mental health of the inmates being affected by isolation amid incidents of violence and criminality.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “Anyone that is vulnerable, we will make sure that they are treated to the high standard the public would expect.”