Government withdraws letter to woman, who is 37 weeks pregnant, saying that it was sent by mistake
The Home Office has apologised to a pregnant rape survivor from Eritrea who was sent a letter threatening her with forced removal to Rwanda, saying it was sent by mistake.
Guardian and ITV News revealed on Thursday that the woman was distraught after receiving the Home Office letter, which has now been withdrawn.
Continue reading...Eritrean woman, 28, in acute distress having spent most of her life in search of safety
A heavily pregnant rape survivor from Eritrea has been threatened with forced removal to Rwanda by the Home Office.
Human rights campaigners say it is the “most egregious” case they have come across so far in the government’s scheme to outsource the processing of UK asylum claims to the east African country.
Continue reading...Mayooran Thangaratnam fled Sri Lanka for the UK in 2003 after brutal murder of his father but was repeatedly refused asylum
A refugee who was wrongly recorded as being a child murderer by the Home Office says delays in his case have led to him wasting almost two decades of his life.
Mayooran Thangaratnam, a 41-year-old Tamil from Sri Lanka, fled to the UK in 2003 at the age of 23 and claimed asylum. He provided evidence to the Home Office from media reports that his father, a journalist who passed information to the UN about the Sri Lankan government’s persecution of Tamils, was murdered by Sri Lankan forces and that his life was also in danger.
Continue reading...Letter undermines Priti Patel’s claim that Albanians arriving with ‘spurious’ claims could be removed quickly
The Home Office has conceded that it does not have the right to fast-track the deportation of Albanian asylum seekers after their arrival in the UK, in an abrupt policy U-turn.
Priti Patel, the former home secretary, signed a deal with the Albanian government in August to return those who arrive illegally. She claimed it meant the UK could quickly return asylum seekers who arrived in the UK and made “spurious” claims.
Continue reading...Home secretary directs police chiefs to focus on ‘common-sense’ policing over diversity and inclusion initiatives
Suella Braverman has ordered police chiefs to spend less time on “symbolic gestures” and more time on policing.
In an open letter to police leaders in England and Wales, in which she set out her policing agenda, the new home secretary said diversity and inclusion initiatives “should not take precedence” over tackling crime.
Continue reading...Up to £5m allocated to help young people escape drug gangs, with money also going to helpline
Up to £5m has been allocated by the Home Office to support victims of county lines exploitation over the next three years.
Hundreds of victims will be helped to escape drug gangs following the expansion of support services in London, the West Midlands, Merseyside and Greater Manchester.
Continue reading...UK’s new home secretary upsets civil servants with speech on migrants, trashy TV and back-to-office call
The new home secretary has already prompted consternation among Home Office officials after telling them she wants to ban all small boats crossing the Channel, the Observer has learned.
During her inaugural address to departmental staff last Wednesday, Suella Braverman said a top priority would be stopping all Channel crossings. She has also asked all staff to watch “trashy TV” to help their “mental wellbeing”, a source said, specifically citing Channel 4’s Married at First Sight and First Dates as well as Love Island.
Continue reading...African country went back on list of destinations for ‘migration partnership’ after civil servants had ruled it out, judges hear
The UK’s plan to deport people seeking asylum to Rwanda has been challenged in the high court, with claims that ministers deliberately ignored evidence that the east African country had violated human rights, including the right to live free from torture.
Rwanda was put back on to a list of potential destinations for a “migration partnership” after previously being ruled out by civil servants, the court was told.
Continue reading...Home Office aims to crack down on people from ‘safe and prosperous country’ arriving via Channel
Plans to fast-track the removal of Albanian nationals entering the UK via small boat crossings have moved closer after Priti Patel met Albanian police.
Monday’s meeting was part of two days of talks on the sharing of forensics and biometrics to clamp down on anyone entering who has a criminal record in Albania, the Home Office said.
Continue reading...Some asylum seekers have received letters saying government intends to remove them, the Guardian has learned
The Home Office is planning a new deportation flight to Rwanda, the Guardian has learned.
Some newly arrived asylum seekers in hotels have received letters from the department telling them their asylum claims are deemed inadmissible for consideration in the UK.
Continue reading...Lawyers say the woman, who is in hiding in Pakistan with her son, will be killed if sent back to Afghanistan
A female former senior judge from Afghanistan who is in hiding from the Taliban with her son has filed an appeal to the Home Office after her application to enter the UK was denied.
Lawyers for the woman – who is named as “Y” – said on Saturday they had submitted an appeal on behalf of their client and her son at the Immigration Tribunal, saying she had been left in a “gravely vulnerable position” by the withdrawal of British and other western troops.
Continue reading...MoD sources accuse other parts of Whitehall of failing to do enough to help Afghans who worked with British forces
Two RAF flights carrying as many as 500 Afghans who worked with British forces and their relatives are landing in the UK each month from Pakistan but there is deep frustration within the Ministry of Defence about how the rest of government is struggling to accommodate arrivals.
It comes as the Taliban and western allies mark the first anniversary of Nato’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Continue reading...A year after the fall of Kabul, Abdullah Sayyid is in hiding, his wife has been murdered and the Home Office seems to have lost his case file
Abdullah Sayyid often thinks about the moment the Taliban broke down his door, burst inside and shot his wife. The gunmen left, but would soon redouble their efforts to kill him because of his work for the British government.
Sayyid’s wife was murdered during the chaotic aftermath of Operation Pitting, the UK’s emergency mass airlift from Kabul that began on 13 August last year.
Continue reading...Home Office accused of failing to ensure safety of thousands including teachers and translators
Thousands of Afghans who worked for the UK have been abandoned and remain at risk from the Taliban a year after the evacuation from Kabul, a coalition of human rights groups has said.
In a parliamentary briefing, nine expert groups on Afghanistan criticised the British government’s resettlement schemes as “unjustifiably restrictive”. They said it was deeply concerning that the government is currently not offering a safe route for many Afghan women and girls or to oppressed minority groups.
Continue reading...Increased number of people arriving in UK in more overcrowded vessels shows Rwanda plan not working, say campaigners
People-smugglers have dropped their prices and are cramming more people than ever before into already overloaded, flimsy boats, the Guardian has learned.
This week 696 asylum seekers crossed the Channel from France to the UK in one day, the Ministry of Defence said.
Continue reading...Family accommodated in a Midlands hotel were sick after eating meal provided by Serco
Children at a Home Office hotel unwittingly ate worms that were in food provided to them by government contractors, the Guardian has learned.
A four-year-old boy, not realising that his meal of fish and chips contained worms, began vomiting soon after he started to eat it. Paramedics were called and the boy was taken to hospital.
Continue reading...Former chancellor says UK ‘needs to control borders’ and again references Margaret Thatcher
In an interview with GB News, Liz Truss was asked if she would keep the expensive wallpaper in the Downing Street flat, installed as part of Boris Johnson’s controversial refurbishment, if she became PM. In what is being seen by some as a dig at Johnson, she replied:
I’m not going to have the time to be thinking about the wallpaper in No 10, because we’ve only got two years until the general election – we need to hit the ground running.
Continue reading...Charity says disclosures in legal case paint picture of home secretary desperate to push policy through
The Home Office pushed through its policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda despite repeated concerns from UK government officials, it has emerged from documents submitted to a high court hearing.
The government disclosed the documents, which raise numerous concerns about the Rwanda plans, ahead of a full hearing later this year into the lawfulness of the policy.
On 10 February 2021, the UK high commissioner to Rwanda said the UK should not do a deal with Rwanda because the African country had been accused of recruiting refugees to conduct armed operations in neighbouring countries.
On 18 February 2021, Rwanda was identified as one of 14 countries assessed as presenting substantial issues in relation to asylum systems and human rights. Rwanda received an amber/red rating from the government owing to significant human rights concerns.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office memo dated 20 May 2021 urged No 10 not to get involved with the Rwanda deal owing to significant human rights concerns.
An internal memo criticised the “limited evidence about whether these proposals will be a sufficient deterrent for those seeking to enter the UK illegally”.
A detailed internal memo that appears to be dated 12 April 2022, the day before a memorandum of understanding was signed between UK and Rwanda, stated that the “fraud risk is very high” in the deal because UK was paying so much money upfront to Rwanda.
A document from the day the memorandum was signed stated that the first group of asylum seekers due to be flown to Rwanda could “test” Rwanda’s refugee determination processes.
When the UK government conducted an independent assessment of Rwanda’s human rights record, the Home Office showed it to Rwanda to comment on the final draft and allowed officials to suggest amendments.
Continue reading...Despite court hearing, Home Office continues to claim UNHCR is supportive of controversial scheme
The Home Office has been accused of misrepresenting the UN refugee agency’s stance on sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, in a new disagreement between the two organisations, the Guardian has learned.
The Home Office and UNHCR have clashed previously over the safety and suitability of the Home Office’s policy of forcibly removing some asylum seekers who have recently arrived in the UK on small boats or in the back of lorries to Rwanda to have their claims processed there.
Continue reading...Charity workers hope Sir Mo Farah’s decision to reveal he was trafficked would encourage more victims to come forward
After it took Sir Mo Farah decades to summon the courage to speak about his childhood experiences, trafficking experts warned that the fear of being criminalised prevents many other child victims from coming forward to seek help.
Charity workers commended the Olympic champion’s decision to reveal he was trafficked to the UK using another child’s name, then exploited and forced into domestic servitude, expressing hope that high-profile revelations would highlight the widespread nature of such abuse and encourage more victims to speak out.
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