Category Archives: Immigration and asylum

Concern for migrants’ safety as hundreds resume Channel crossings

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RNLI lifeboat charity experiences especially busy day after recent run of bad weather halted crossings

Hundreds of people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel, as several charities said the current humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan showed why people risk their lives to flee.

It followed a first day of landings in more than two weeks on Sunday, after a run of bad weather put a halt to the crossings. A Home Office source said reports of 1,000 migrants entering the UK across the Channel in a single day is an exaggeration, and believed the figure will be between 800 and 850.

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Hilary Mantel: I am ashamed to live in nation that elected this government

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Double Booker prize winner tells La Repubblica she may take Irish citizenship to feel European again

Hilary Mantel has said she feels “ashamed” by the UK government’s treatment of migrants and asylum seekers and is intending to become an Irish citizen to “become a European again”.

In a wide-ranging interview with La Repubblica, the twice Booker prize-winning novelist also gave her view on the monarchy, told how endometriosis has “devastated my life”, and how Boris Johnson “should not be in public life”. She also addresses the criticism of JK Rowling and her stance on transgender rights.

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MPs trying to rescue more than 7,000 people trapped in Afghanistan

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Figure dwarfs 800 to 1,100 Afghans eligible for resettlement defence secretary said would be left behind

MPs are scrambling to rescue more than 7,000 constituents and family members trapped in Afghanistan, according to figures provided to the Guardian, dwarfing the only estimates provided by the government of the number left behind.

Scores of Labour MPs have been inundated with pleas for help from thousands of constituents whose relatives have been left stranded since the UK’s final emergency airlift left Kabul following the country’s rapid fall to the Taliban. Among them are children, disabled relatives and people who face persecution due to their work, all with potential eligibility to be resettled in Britain.

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‘I feel helpless, useless and hopeless’: diary of an Afghan evacuee

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Student, English teacher and journalist Mursal Rasa Jamili, 23, was evacuated to the UK from Kabul with her two sisters

Mursal Rasa Jamili, a 23-year-old final-year university student, English teacher and journalist in Kabul, was evacuated to the UK with her two sisters. Here she explains what happened during her last days in Afghanistan.

Sunday 22 August

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‘I cry all the time’: the plight of Afghan refugees in Calais

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More Afghans are arriving in norther France hoping to make it across the Channel to claim asylum in the UK

Salaam Khan had not long ago woken up after another fruitless night attempting to cross the Channel from Calais and was on alert for the arrival of the French police. They come most mornings to confiscate the tents of the hundreds of migrants and refugees sleeping on the city’s outskirts.

“It’s a new day and the same shit,” he said.

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Forty people feared dead as woman rescued from dinghy off Canary Islands

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The woman, who was trying to make the trip from Africa, was found lying next to two bodies and ‘in a bad state’, officials say

About 40 migrants are feared dead after rescuers recovered a lone woman clinging to an overturned dinghy that had been carrying dozens of people trying to reach the Canary Islands.

A rescue helicopter carrying the survivor – a 30-year-old woman who appeared exhausted and shaken – landed at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria airport on Tuesday, after a cargo ship found her 135 miles off the coast.

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How the Covid pandemic has led to more Channel crossings – video explainer

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A record number of people are expected to cross the Channel to the UK in small boats this year to claim asylum. 

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, more than 10,000 people have already made the dangerous and potentially fatal 21-mile journey across the busiest shipping lane in the world. On 4 August, 482 migrants crossed the Channel – a record for a single day.

The Guardian journalist Diane Taylor explains what is driving people to take the enormous risk

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How is UK planning to help resettle Afghan refugees?

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Ministers are expected to announce a ‘bespoke’ scheme similar to that put in place for Syrians in 2014

Ministers are expected to announce plans for a new settlement scheme in the UK for Afghan nationals following the Taliban takeover of the country. Similar to a scheme put in place for Syrians in 2014 amid the country’s civil war, this would be in addition to existing structures to assist some Afghan nationals.

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Home Office challenged over ‘sped-up’ removal of Vietnamese nationals

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Signs that detainees were victims of trafficking are being overlooked, say campaigners

Lawyers are challenging the Home Office policy of deporting people to Vietnam who could be victims of trafficking after the UK sent a second charter flight to the country within a matter of weeks.

The challenge follows concern from lawyers and charities that some victims of trafficking could be wrongly removed from the UK under a speedy processing system for migrants in detention known as “detained asylum casework”.

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EU citizens who applied to stay in Britain facing threat of deportation

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The Home Office appears to be in breach of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, says legal charity

European citizens who have applied for settled status are being detained and threatened with deportation, a development that contradicts assurances from ministers and appears to contravene the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

The Home Office has served EU nationals with removal directions even though they could prove they had applied for settled status, which should protect their rights to remain in the UK.

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How an RNLI training pool gave me an insight into crossing Channel as a migrant

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Sitting in a small dinghy in darkness as it took on water was frightening enough in a sea survival exercise let alone for real

As I paddled through crashing waves in the darkness, stomach churning, I watched our small dinghy starting to fill up with water with a sinking feeling – it wouldn’t be long before we went overboard, and I was worried that at least one person in my boat was paddling in the wrong direction. But, then again, it might have been me: I was wielding an oar twice my size and it was impossible to tell in the frenzy.

Before we knew it the odyssey was over and the lights were back on. I emerged soaked through – with aching muscles and shot nerves – relieved to be out of the water.

This was the RNLI’s sea survival pool, used to train volunteers in the rigours of life-or-death aquatic rescue. All I had done was traverse a 25-metre swimming pool four times, but it was enough to assure me that repeating that at least 325 more times across the Channel would be a deeply traumatic experience. What’s more, it is a journey that would probably be much longer as a migrant is, in many cases, guided by only a smartphone compass.

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UK poised to end amber list quarantine for people vaccinated in US and EU

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Ministers to discuss plans, with talks also to determine if they will apply to England only or all UK nations

Plans to significantly open up international travel are expected to be announced on Wednesday, with UK ministers poised to let people who have been fully vaccinated in the US and EU avoid quarantine if arriving from amber list countries.

The move would benefit millions of people by finally letting them be reunited with family and friends based in the UK, as well as businesses in the aviation and tourism sectors that have been hit hard by the pandemic.

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RNLI hits out at ‘migrant taxi service’ accusations

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Lifeboat charity says it is its moral and legal duty to rescue people at risk of dying as they cross Channel

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has hit out at accusations it is operating a “migrant taxi service” by rescuing people at risk of dying in the water as they cross the Channel in small boats, which the charity says is its moral and legal duty.

Responding to accusations from Nigel Farage that it is facilitating illegal immigration, the volunteer lifeboat charity said it was “very proud” of its humanitarian work and it would continue to respond to coastguard callouts to rescue at-risk Channel migrants in line with its legal duty under international maritime law.

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France fiasco to pingdemic U-turn: Boris Johnson’s week of chaos

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In the last seven days the UK government has flailed from one controversy or misstep to the next

Often, the political week heading into the Commons summer recess can feel almost soporific, with the thoughts of ministers and MPs geared more towards holiday sunbeds than rows. But the last seven days has been different, and not only because of the ongoing political flux of coronavirus, with the government seeming to flail from one controversy, U-turn or misstep to the next, day after day.

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Thousands aged over 65 failed to apply for EU settled status – report

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Lords report calls on the government to ensure support remains in place to help late applicants secure their status

Significant numbers of Europeans in the UK aged over 65 failed to apply to the EU settlement scheme (EUSS) before the deadline, a parliamentary report has found, warning that this could make thousands of retirement-aged EU nationals vulnerable to Britain’s hostile environment policies.

Just 2% of all applications for the settlement scheme were submitted by people aged over 65, a percentage that is unlikely to reflect the population of older EU nationals living in the UK. Charities supporting older Europeans to apply said they had “encountered many individuals who have no mobile phone, no digital access and inappropriate or no documentation”, and the report warned that people who struggled with the digital technology required to apply were more likely to have missed the deadline for applications at the end of last month.

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Priti Patel accused of throwing good money after bad over Channel migrants

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Tory MP criticises home secretary over £55m deal with France to double number of patrols off its coast

Handing £55m to French authorities to clamp down on migrants crossing the Channel in small boats is “throwing good money after bad”, the home secretary has been told by a Conservative colleague as she was grilled by MPs.

Priti Patel revealed late on Tuesday that she had agreed to pay the sum as part of a deal with the French interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, to double the number of officers patrolling the French coast.

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Migrant rough sleeper facing eviction from London accommodation

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Man faces eviction from emergency hotel accommodation because he refuses to return to his home country

A migrant rough sleeper is facing eviction from emergency hotel accommodation by a London council because he refuses to return to his home country.

A letter from Westminster council to the individual states that following assessments by the homeless charity the Connection at St Martin’s, the council was unable “to identify a service offer that will resolve your rough sleeping in the UK”.

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Fijian-born soldiers given right to live in UK despite legal battle loss

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‘Moral victory’ claimed by veterans’ lawyers as Ministry of Defence grants indefinite leave to remain

A group of Fijian-born soldiers who sued the government after being classified as illegal immigrants have been granted leave to remain in the UK, despite losing their legal battle against the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Home Office.

Seven of the group, who claimed they were the victims of serious and systemic administrative mistakes because they were not properly advised on how to claim the right to stay legally in the UK after completing their service, have now been granted indefinite leave to remain, and a final applicant is expected to receive the status imminently.

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UK food worker shortages push prices up and risk Christmas turkey supplies

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Dearth of delivery drivers, abattoir staff and fruit pickers caused by Covid and Brexit are fuelling wage rises with 5% hike in prices forecast

Food prices could rise by about 5% by the autumn – and turkeys and pigs in blankets could be in short supply this Christmas – as shortages of delivery drivers, abattoir staff and other workers drive up pay and other costs.

Industry insiders say that pay for lorry drivers and other supply chain workers, including abbatoir workers, plus vegetable and fruit pickers and packers have all risen because of difficulties in finding sufficient staff.

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Priti Patel to reveal proposals for offshore centres for asylum seekers

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Borders bill will allow for charges against migrants ‘knowingly’ arriving in UK without permission

Ministers are to reveal proposals for a suite of new laws paving the way for offshore centres for asylum seekers and criminal charges for migrants “knowingly” arriving in the UK without permission.

The nationality and borders bill, formerly known as the sovereign borders bill, has been described by the Home Office as containing “the most radical changes to the broken asylum system in decades” making it harder for those who enter illegally to stay in the UK.

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