Home secretary announces the end of limitations on use of section 60 powers where serious violence anticipated
The government is lifting restrictions placed on police stop and search powers in areas where they anticipate violent crime, the home secretary has announced.
In a letter to police forces on Monday, Priti Patel outlined the easing of conditions on the use of the tactics under section 60 of the criminal justice and public order act.
Continue reading...Many are struggling to pay fee – which is five times higher than administrative cost – and face destitution and deportation
Bereaved spouses with the right to remain in the UK are facing destitution and deportation because the Home Office is charging them thousands of pounds to stay, the Guardian has learned.
People whose British spouses or partners have died are calling on the Home Office to waive the £2,404 fee for the “bereaved partner concession”, which grants a husband or wife indefinite leave to remain.
Continue reading...Concerns grow for safety of those heading to Britain as government scrambles to fix flaws in housing scheme
• Russia-Ukraine war: latest developments
Ukrainians fleeing the war are being housed with UK hosts who have not had a criminal record check, in the latest concern to blight the government’s response to the refugee crisis.
Under increasing pressure to iron out flaws in its schemes, government sources told the Observer they were creating a “rematching” service to house Ukrainians with people willing to help.
Continue reading...PM says he will ‘dig in for the fight’ with ‘leftie lawyers’ challenging government’s plan for refugees
Boris Johnson said 50 people have been told they will be sent to Rwanda within the next fortnight, and that he was ready to fight with “leftie lawyers” seeking to challenge the government’s plans for refugees.
Under the £120m scheme announced last month, people deemed to have entered the UK unlawfully will be transported to the east African country, where they will be allowed to apply for the right to settle.
Continue reading...The man, who has been awaiting a Home Office decision for almost two years, says the anxiety has had a significant impact on his wellbeing
A Syrian interpreter who has worked for the British government and the White Helmets has tried to kill himself after waiting nearly two years for a decision on his asylum claim.
Ali [not his real name] worked as an interpreter and translator for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in Istanbul, and for Mayday Rescue, a humanitarian organisation that supported the work of the White Helmets (officially known as the Syria Civil Defence) across Syria.
In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found here
Continue reading...Minister also refuses to say whether Ukrainians who cross Channel in small boats could be sent to Africa
Undocumented people who travel from Ukraine to the UK via Ireland could be considered for removal to Rwanda, a senior Home Office official has told MPs.
During the same select committee hearing, a minister refused to say under repeated questioning whether Ukrainians who arrive in the UK across the Channel by boat could also be sent to the central African country.
Continue reading...Rights organisations say refugees going into hiding as Home Office admits LGBTQ+ people could face persecution in African country
Ministers’ threats to send unauthorised migrants to Rwanda are having a detrimental impact on the physical and psychological health of people seeking asylum, according to two major refugee charities.
The British Red Cross and the Refugee Council, which worked with nearly 44,000 people in the asylum process, warn that they are disappearing from hotels and are reluctant to claim support for fear of deportation, detention and other harsh measures.
A Rwandan asylum seeker who contacted the Red Cross in south-east England fearing he could be sent back to the country. He disclosed that he would be in hiding and refraining from accessing support so he is not identified by the authorities.
An Afghan man living in temporary accommodation in the east Midlands who disclosed that he had gone into hiding, fearing that he would be detained and sent to Rwanda. He said that many of his friends were in the same situation and planned to go underground.
An asylum seeker from Ethiopia based in the West Midlands said that he feels anxious about the passing of the Nationality and Borders Act and disclosed he had left his accommodation out of fear that he will be sent to Rwanda.
An Afghan asylum seeker also based in the West Midlands who said he feels he is a second-class refugee as he is not eligible for recent schemes designed to support Ukrainians.
Continue reading...Eighteen-year-old orphan to receive £300 for transport costs to site of exams after case brought to court
The Home Office has backed down part way through a high court hearing after an orphaned teenage asylum seeker from Eritrea feared she would be unable to sit her GCSE exams next week due to not being accommodated close to her college.
During Tuesday’s hearing the department agreed to pay for travel until her exams finish next month – a sum of about £300. The ongoing court proceedings are likely to have already cost many thousands of pounds. Officials also guaranteed her a bedroom to herself so she can study in peace and quiet.
Continue reading...Charity Freedom from Torture says it has ‘serious concerns’ about lawfulness of policy
Priti Patel’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is facing its first legal challenge after a charity instructed lawyers to demand the disclosure of documents because of fears the policy is contrary to international law.
In a pre-action letter to the Home Office, which is expected to lead to a judicial review claim, the solicitors Leigh Day stated that the charity Freedom from Torture “has serious concerns about the lawfulness of the policy”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: poor healthcare and conditions at sites such as Napier worsen mental and physical illness, Doctors of the World says
Asylum seekers’ accommodation is “unsafe” due to inadequate healthcare, while poor living conditions are exacerbating or creating mental and physical health problems, according to a new report by Doctors of the World.
The charity’s research, published on Wednesday, details the barriers to medical care and medication for asylum seekers in initial accommodation across the UK.
Continue reading...Government lawyers confirm Home Office plan to force small boats back to France has been abandoned
Priti Patel’s refugee pushback policy has been officially withdrawn by the government days before a judicial review of the tactic was due to be heard in the high court.
The government’s legal department acknowledged in a letter on Sunday that the plan to try to force people in dinghies back to France has been abandoned after Boris Johnson’s announcement that the Royal Navy would take over operations in the Channel.
Continue reading...Government accused of ‘shocking complacency’ over awards to seven Putin cronies
Seven Russians now under sanctions were awarded controversial “golden visas” by the UK after Vladimir Putin’s regime first invaded Ukraine in 2014, the government has admitted.
The government closed the “tier 1 investor visa” scheme in February amid the build-up of Russian forces on Ukraine’s border as it prepared to broaden its occupation beyond Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
Continue reading...UK home secretary attacks critics of plan to give unauthorised asylum seekers one-way tickets to African country
Priti Patel has defended plans to send unauthorised asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda, saying critics of the scheme have failed to offer any alternative solution to the migration crisis.
The proposal, announced last week, has been widely condemned as inhumane, illegal, unworkable and prohibitively expensive. Critics have included Conservative MPs and peers, the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) and a former and the current archbishop of Canterbury, who said, in his Easter Sunday sermon, that the scheme “does not stand the judgment of God”.
Continue reading...Questions raised over home secretary’s claim that new law would allow ‘safe and legal route’
Priti Patel is under pressure to apologise after being accused of misleading parliament over a central claim relating to her deeply controversial proposals to change immigration law.
The home secretary told MPs that the widely criticised nationality and borders bill would create new safe and legal routes to the UK for asylum seekers, suggesting that new routes would ensure that people no longer need to risk their lives trying to reach the UK.
Continue reading...Unions say civil servants could stage mass walkouts after home secretary overruled their concerns
Priti Patel could face a Home Office mutiny over plans to process migrants 5,000 miles away in Rwanda after overruling officials to push through the scheme.
The home secretary issued a rare ministerial direction to overrule concerns of civil servants about whether the scheme would deliver value for money.
Continue reading...Claim about long-term benefits disputed by MP Andrew Mitchell who describes reported cost of £30,000 a person as ‘eye-watering’
Britain will save money in the “longer term” by sending some asylum seekers to Rwanda, a minister has said after the reported cost of about £30,000 a person was described as “eye-watering”.
Defending the decision to fly out many of those who arrive on the Kent coast to a country more than 4,000 miles away, the Home Office minister Tom Pursglove said it would “crush” the business model of people smugglers.
Continue reading...People fleeing persecution to be taken to stripped-back Hope guest house in Kigali, which has only 50 rooms
Asylum seekers flown to Rwanda by the British government will be put up in a no-frills hostel a mile away from Kigali city centre.
People fleeing war and persecution will be taken to a guest house, built in 2014, which only has 50 rooms available, although there are plans to expand the facility.
Continue reading...Analysis: Tories keen to shore up support with tough immigration policy but there are concerns about the detail
When Boris Johnson’s position was at its most precarious two months ago, he had to convince Conservative MPs sticking by his side was worth it.
A plan was devised – dubbed “Operation Red Meat” – to give those losing faith in his administration some belief that there was a higher purpose than just defending their leader through scandal after scandal.
Continue reading...PM insists east African country is safe and scheme will prove ‘very considerable deterrent’
Tens of thousands of unauthorised migrants who seek sanctuary in the UK will be flown more than 4,000 miles to Rwanda under a new set of immigration policies, Boris Johnson has said.
The prime minister insisted at a press conference that the African state, criticised last year by the UK for its human rights record, was one of the safest countries in the world. He also announced that the Royal Navy would take over patrolling the Channel to intercept small boats from France.
Continue reading...Investigation launched after whistleblowers said colleagues regularly paid sex workers for 10 years
An investigation has been launched after claims that Home Office contractors paid for sex while deporting people abroad, the Guardian has learned.
Five whistleblowers have said some colleagues regularly paid sex workers on overnight stopovers over a period of 10 years after accompanying migrants on flights from the UK.
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