Back in the frame of detaining potential migrants? – Hastings Independent Press

HUGH SULLIVAN

Amid news reports about cross-Channel migration, including tighter border controls and multiple drownings, Sir Keir Starmer’s government has still heard nothing about the future of Northeye, the former prison site outside Bexhill that the Home Office bought last year with the stated intention of holding illegal immigrants.

Progress towards this prospect seemed to have stalled under the previous Home Secretary, James Cleverly, while Rishi Sunak focused all his energy on pursuing the policy of deportations to Rwanda. Sir Keir made it clear upon taking office as Prime Minister that the Rwanda plan had been abandoned. It has been replaced, at least in the rhetoric of the new government, by the launch of a new Border Security Command that will hire “hundreds of new specialist investigators” and use counter-terrorism powers “to destroy criminal boat gangs”.

However, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced “a major increase in immigration enforcement and returns activity” on August 21, claiming that the government has new plans over the next six months “to achieve the highest rate of removals of people who should not be here, including failed asylum seekers, in five years (since 2018)”. This will involve “increased detention capacity”, Cooper said, as well as an increase in the rate of asylum claims decisions and negotiations on agreements with foreign governments to accept returns.

EXPANSION OF DETENTION CAPACITY

In her speech, she mentioned the reopening of two former detention centres, one at Campsfield House in Oxfordshire, the other at Haslar outside Gosport, to serve their immediate purpose as Immigration Removal Centres. Together, these would house an extra 290 detainees on top of the current capacity of around 2,300 across the country. But with more than 23,000 potential immigrants arriving across the Channel by small boats this year up to 15 September – a slightly higher percentage than the total of 29,437 (according to Home Office figures) for the whole of 2023 – the government would also be “exploring options” for further increases to detention capacity.

Regarding Campsfield, which has been closed since 2019, a Home Office spokesperson said they have “held discussions with local councillors and other stakeholders to ensure that the impact of the plans on the local community and environment is fully considered”. However, newly elected Liberal Democrat MP for Bicester & Woodstock, Calum Miller, and leaders of both Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council have all publicly opposed the plans to reopen. Councillors from Cherwell District Council, the local planning authority, have written to the Home Secretary complaining of “a complete lack of parliamentary oversight”.

The plan to reopen the Haslar site, however, appears to have the approval of at least the local Conservative MP, Dame Caroline Dinenage. AVID, a national network of visitors groups for people in immigration detention, has pointed out that it was closed in 2015 after numerous reports of abuse and inhumane conditions. But Dame Dinenage praised the removal of asbestos from the site during the period of closure and welcomed the plan earlier this year, describing the refurbishment as “high quality” and remarking positively on “the 200 jobs” that would come with reopening.

OPPOSITION TO NORTHEYE

Asbestos has also been identified as a problem at Northeye. And the local MP (Dr Kieran Mullen, who was just elected in July) is also a Conservative, and unlikely to oppose the government’s detention programme in principle. However, in early August the BBC reported that he had called on the government to “let people know what’s going on” and had stated that bringing “hundreds and hundreds of people onto a quiet residential street in a town that’s already struggling with infrastructure” would not be “the right thing to do”.

In this view, he joins his Bexhill constituents who opposed the site’s use for migrant housing and/or detention purposes in protests and counter-protests last year – from pro-asylum campaigners Stand Up To Racism on the political left to local residents No to Northeye worried about threats to indigenous safety and property values ​​on the political right. Any attempt by the Home Office to revive the original plan will no doubt be met with a dusting off of the placards in question and renewed marches. Another local campaigner, Jeff Newnham, who raised almost £20,000 through a crowdfunding appeal to launch a legal challenge for an inquest, has indicated that he still wants to push ahead in this circumstance.

On the other hand, newly elected MP for Hastings & Rye Helena Dollimore endorses Labour’s policy of restoring order to the system so that it is “fast, firm and fair – with the rules properly enforced”. The new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, announced in the King’s Speech from the Throne in July, will “bring in new replacement arrangements, including fast decisions and returns to safe countries”, she said.

And the Home Office is said to have signed new repatriation agreements with Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Serbia and Georgia, following on from an earlier rapid deportation deal with Albania. But the fact is that the majority of illegal immigrants, or at least those arriving in small boats across the Channel, come from countries that can hardly be described as “safe” – apart from Vietnam, the five most common countries of origin are Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey (highly oppressive and discriminatory as far as many Kurds are concerned), Eritrea and Iraq. How is Ms Cooper going to negotiate safe return for dissident nationals from these countries?

AMNESTY CRITICISM

Steve Valdez-Symons, Amnesty International’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme Director, said: “It is appalling to see the new administration rehashing the previous administration’s rhetoric about ‘border security’ and ‘busting gangs’, while simultaneously ignoring the urgent need to provide safe asylum routes and a clear guarantee of asylum to refugees arriving here.

“People in urgent need of help – including those fleeing war and persecution in countries such as Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria and Iran – will continue to come to the UK and other countries. The government must create safe routes that reduce the dangers of dangerous border crossings and the risk of exploitation by ruthless smuggling gangs.

“This ‘assured’ approach to asylum and immigration will simply deter and punish many of the people who need to cross the border the most, and who are therefore often the most vulnerable to criminal exploitation.”

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