Javid ready to get tough on asylum claims from migrants ignoring ‘first safe country’
SAJID JAVID is seeking to tighten up rules on asylum claims to help deter migrants from attempting to exploit Britain’s immigration system, The Sunday Telegraph understands.
The Home Secretary has asked officials to examine how existing rules could be toughened to turn away individuals who failed to claim asylum in the first safe country they entered after leaving their home states.
The move, which is expected to be announced this week, is likely to be welcomed by Conservative MPs who praised comments by Mr Javid last week in which he questioned whether scores of migrants crossing the English Channel were “genuine” asylum seekers. But it is likely to further anger his critics, including the Labour front bench, who claimed his comments suggested he wanted to send away genuine refugees.
Under the current rules an application can be denied if it can be shown that individuals have travelled through another safe country and failed to claim asylum. The rules are intended to stop so-called “asylum shopping”, in which migrants travel through other countries to the UK in order to seek what they perceive as the most attractive option.
Mr Javid is believed to have instructed officials to ensure the current rules are working effectively, and examine how they can be tightened.
A Home Office document published in October states: “Those who fear persecution should … claim asylum and stay in the first safe country they reach and not put their lives at risk by making unnecessary and dangerous journeys to the UK. Illegal migration from safe countries undermines our efforts to help those most in need.”