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The Home Office has been accused of treating asylum seekers like “lab rats” after moving to “warehouse” the first batch of migrants into a military barracks, despite opposition from campaigners and local politicians.
Twenty-seven men have been moved into the Crowborough military barracks, as part of the Government’s plans to move migrants from hotels to military sites.
The site in East Sussex has a capacity of 500 bed spaces, allocated for single adult males, who will be housed there for up to three months while their claims are processed. If their asylum application is rejected, the department say they will be removed from the country.
The plans have already triggered anti-migrant protests in the local area, prompting fears about an increase in far-right activity.
Conservative MP for Sussex Weald Nusrat Ghani has warned of the “grave impact” of moving the men onto the site.
In a letter to Immigration Minister Alex Norris on Wednesday, seen by Byline Times, Ghani stated that there was “clear evidence that the site is not an empty army barracks, but a functioning and much used and loved training camp”. Crowborough is currently used as a training facility for the local Royal Air Force Cadets and for fire, police and other public service agencies.
She added that the site was “unable to be signed off as safe, legal and compliant, and one of the reasons was the cost and displacement of services and the Cadets”. Despite asking yesterday for a detailed assessment of how the Home Office intended to “square that circle”, the first migrants were moved to Crowborough this morning.
Wealden District Council leader James Partridge has also voiced opposition to the plans, saying it was the “wrong decision”. Protests have taken place around the site on a weekly basis since last October when the plans were first announced. “Despite our strong objections, the minister [Alex Norris] has not listened to us,” Partridge said.
The latest move marks the start of the Government’s plans to ‘warehouse’ asylum seekers in former military camps in an attempt to close hotels by the end of this parliament. More than 200 hotels remain in use, at a cost of more than £5.7 million per day. The Home Office has consistently said that hotels are a “pull factor” for small boat crossings.
Campaigners have described the use of former military sites to accommodate asylum seekers as a “sleeper issue”, with the potential for protests starting at a local level to become more widespread.
“It’s like they’re using asylum seekers as lab rats,” said Lou Calvey, Director of Asylum Matters. “The Government should be building policy in the interests of people in local communities – a fiscally-responsible policy – but they’re not even doing that. When are they going to wake up? We know these sites are incredibly damaging and this will only mean more community tensions and problems.”
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A report from the National Audit Office last year found that military barracks were projected to cost £46 million more than hotels over the next decade. A leaked forecast from the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned that the expected cost to house asylum seekers has tripled from £4.5 billion to £15.3 billion for contracts from 2019-2029.
In a statement released this morning, the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said that opening Crowborough camp was “just the start”.
“I will bring forward site after site until every asylum hotel is closed and returned to local communities,” Mahmood said.
In October, the Government announced it would also open Cameron barracks …