Asylum seekers to be housed in ‘reception centres’ during claim
ASYLUM SEEKERS will be housed in ‘reception centres’ rather than in the community while they wait to find out if their claim for refugee status has been successful under what Home Secretary Priti Patel describes as “the biggest overhaul of the UK’s asylum system in decades”.
Ms Patel’s New Plan for Immigration, detailing how the Government intends to deal with people entering the UK “illegally”, will mean people who enter the UK via another ‘safe’ country such as France will no longer have automatic access to the asylum system.
The Home Office described the current system for those seeking sanctuary as “collapsing under the pressures of what are in effect illegal routes to asylum, facilitated by criminals smuggling people into the UK and often resulting in the loss of life”.
“Fairness” and a genuine need for refuge are at the heart of the proposals, the department said, as well as including measures to tackle people smugglers and “remove more easily from the UK those with no right to be there”.
But the measures will also make it “much harder for people to be granted refugee status based on unsubstantiated claims” and include “rigorous age assessments” to stop adult migrants pretending to be children.
Rather than being housed in the community as they currently are, asylum seekers will live in reception centres “so they have simple, safe and secure accommodation to stay in while their claims are being processed”.
In the last year there has been criticism of the hotels and military barracks asylum seekers have been housed in by the Home Office, with one condemned by inspectors over its fire safety and living conditions.
The balance in new system was also shift to believing asylum seekers less, experts say, with rigorous age assessment processes carried out by a National Age Assessment Board to stop adult migrants pretending to be children.
Ms Patel said: “If people arrive illegally, they will no longer have the same entitlements as those who arrive legally, and it will be harder for them to stay. If, like over 60 per cent of illegal arrivals, they have travelled through a safe country like France to get here, they will not have immediate entry into the asylum system – which is what happens today.
“And we will stop the most unscrupulous abusing the system by posing as children, by introducing tougher, more accurate age assessments. Profiteering from illegal migration to Britain will no longer be worth the risk, with new maximum life sentences for people smugglers. I make no apology for these actions being firm, but as they will also save lives and target people smugglers, they are also undeniably fair.”
Dave Brown, Head of Migration Yorkshire, which works with the region’s councils on migration issues, said: “This plan lays out profound changes to the UK immigration system and the Home Secretary sets the test of fairness for how this is to be judged.
“We know that Yorkshire is a region with a long and proud history of welcoming refugees in local communities and this will be looked at closely.
“The key questions here are likely to be about the balance of the proposals - to what extent should we restrict individual rights for those people who are not believed, and how much do we judge people on their method of travel compared to the persecution faced in their homeland.”
Profiteering from illegal migration will no longer be worth the risk. Home Secretary Priti Patel on her New Plan for Immigration.