OFFSHORE asylum centres and overseas removal are part of plans announced by the Home Secretary in her new immigration crackdown strategy today.
Priti Patel has unveiled the plans in the House of Commons today to tackle the number of asylum seekers coming to the UK.
She said her plans will tackle criminals who smuggle people into the UK illegally, as well as crack down on those who make asylum claims when they are not entitled to.
However the measures also include controversial options such as using offshore asylum centres to house vulnerable people before their claims to come to the UK are approved, as well as removing them to 'third countries' while their claims are processed.
A Home Office policy statement on the Government’s proposals said the UK’s asylum system is “too easily exploited by people-smugglers and does little to disincentivise individuals from attempting to enter the UK illegally”, adding that, if left unchecked, “illegal immigration puts unsustainable pressures on public services”.
Among a series of measures proposed to overhaul the system, it said: “We will also amend Sections 77 and 78 of the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 so that it is possible to move asylum seekers from the UK while their asylum claim or appeal is pending.
“This will keep the option open, if required in the future, to develop the capacity for offshore asylum processing – in line with our international obligations.”
Ms Patel told MPs today: "The Government has taken back control of legal immigration by ending free movement and introducing a points-based immigration system.
“We are now addressing the challenge of illegal migration head on. I’m introducing the most significant overhaul of our asylum system in decades, a new comprehensive, fair but firm long-term plan.
“Because while people are dying, we have a responsibility to act.”
For “too long” parts of the immigration system have been “open to abuse”, she said, adding that the system has become “overwhelmed” with a backlog of 109,000 asylum claims.
Some 52,000 are awaiting an initial decision and three quarters are awaiting a year or more, she told MPs.
Previously the Home Secretary was reported to be considering shipping asylum seekers 4000 miles away to Ascension Island to wait while their claims are processed. Also reportedly considered by the department include housing aslyum seekers on oil rigs, decommissioned ferries and on remote Scottish islands.
READ MORE: Downing Street will not rule out using Scottish Islands for asylum processing plan
Campaign group Migrant Voice said the Home Secretary’s immigration proposals would condemn asylum seekers “to a life in limbo with restricted rights”.
Nazek Ramadan, director of the advocacy charity, said: “People fleeing persecution and death have the right to seek sanctuary. That is the starting point, and no policy should undermine it. We are dealing here with human beings: they cannot be treated like commodities.”
Ms Ramadan called on the Government to create viable legal routes for those seeking asylum, claiming that an international resettlement scheme cited by Priti Patel only resettles “1% of those who need it and are recognised by the United Nations”.
“The other 99% are left abandoned for years in harsh conditions,” she said.
She added that it was “unacceptable to punish those who are simply trying to reach safety and do what any one of us would do”.
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