[ad_1]
ASYLUM applicants could stay in the Outer Hebrides under plans to address Britain’s illegal immigrant crisis.
Other offshore locations being considered for new asylum processing centers include the Isle of Wight and the Isle of Man, government sources said.
5
5
Priti Patel ordered officials to work out a series of destinations outside of the UK mainland while exploring ways to deal with the surge in illegal immigrants entering Britain on small boats.
More than 5,000 migrants have arrived in boats so far this year, more than double for all of 2019.
An Interior Ministry source said Ms Patel wanted the department to explore “all the options that can stop small boat crossings and fix the asylum system.”
As part of the plans, he asked officials to analyze how other countries have treated migrants arriving in small boats.
Australia, Tunisia, Spain and the US have used offshore locations to process asylum seekers.
But the Home Office rejected reports in the Financial Times that asylum seekers could be sent to Ascension Island, a British overseas territory 4,000 miles away.
5
A source said the remote volcanic island in the South Atlantic was unveiled by the Foreign Ministry after the Interior Minister asked for a list of offshore locations, but she quickly dismissed it as “implausible.”
The most realistic places to set up asylum detention centers are the Western Isles off the coast of Scotland, the Isle of Wight and the Isle of Man, a government source said.
Tonight, The Guardian obtained documents that say Downing Street wants to send asylum seekers to Moldova, Morocco or Papua New Guinea.
But a senior government source said no final decisions on destinations had been made, but that sending migrants to those countries “seems highly implausible” given that they are foreign territories.
Downing Street said policies from “a lot” of countries were being considered.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “We are developing plans to reform our illegal migration and asylum policies so that we can continue to provide protection to those in need while preventing abuse of the system and criminality which, as we have seen with the rise in Los channel crossings, it’s a problem.
“As part of that work, we have been looking at what many other countries are doing to inform a plan for the UK. That work is ongoing.”
By the end of August, some 5,000 people had arrived by boat, compared to 1,890 in all of 2019 alone.
September has been a record month for migrant arrivals, with at least 1,880 crossing the Canal in small boats, often unfit to sail this month.
On September 2, a daily peak of 416 migrants landed in Britain on 28 ships.
5
5
[ad_2]
