To think that something has to be done about the immigration crisis?

[JudesBiggestFan]

But I don't know what? More than 900 people landed in Dover today, as I discovered when reading about the terrible petrol bomb attack on a detention centre. Detention centres overcrowded, more than 7 million pounds a day being spent on hotel rooms for illegal immigrants, horrendously slow processing of applications...people drowning in the channel and local people feeling angry and frustrated because of the strain on services. Not to mention the mental health toll on people living their lives in limbo! So what is the answer? Because I just don't know anymore but it feels like the system has completely broken down.

Please note no one in the boats crossing the channel is an economic migrant. They are either trafficked or asylum seekers.

How do you know that?

@Rinoachicken
Aren’t they only making something like one decision a week?
For asylum seekers alone it was 206 decisions per week from July 2020- Jun 2021.

If they don’t have the enough funding and people to process the applications (and I mean any visa applications like those listed above not just asylum claims)…I mean that’s purely down to a massive failure of government policy/failure to invest surely?. Absolutely! And it’s the cabinet and Parliament who decide the funding and staffing levels for the Home Office. To include things like not investing in better IT systems. I read it takes a worker 40mins just to schedule an asylum interview appointment because their system is so antiquated.

You’re right, there’s no reason for immigration services to be overwhelmed other than deliberate mismanagement. The constant rebranding of asylum seekers and issues around immigration muddies the waters somewhat when people are trying to make comparisons.

When you put the figures as you have it does beg the question why the tories wouldn’t be using them in the same way to tout as one of their successes? I have heard a few explanations of why but I’d be genuinely interested in the view of someone who does back the current cabinet on this subject.

Maths. The cost of a work visa + NHS surcharge is a fraction of the cost charged by a human trafficker to put you on a boat. So you’d only pay the extra thousands of £s if you’re desperate and don’t have the time or documents to apply for a work visa (fleeing for your life). Or you’d only be on that boat if you’d been put on it by international organised crime mafias by threat or deception- as in youre being trafficked into slavery.

I don't have figures for other countries but 1 in 6 people living in England and Wales were born abroad.....That's quite a big percentage!

This....

Because the reason why the Home Office is underfunded and understaffed is due to austerity. The Tories caused this backlog to start in the first place. Then they ignored it and now it’s a runaway train. If they highlight how efficient the Home Office was before austerity, this isn’t a success story, it’s yet more proof they’ve been running more than the NHS and Education into the ground. Austerity stripped every Department down to bare bones.

The only plus to all this is that the Tories have been in power long enough to reap what they’ve sown- and for all of us to witness it. Usually a party doesn’t rule long enough for this to happen and can easily blame issues they caused on their successors.

@Discovereads

For asylum seekers alone it was 206 decisions per week from July 2020- Jun 2021.

Those are old figures.

In the HoC on Monday Diane Abbott quoted the Home Affeiada Commitee as saying it was 1.3 decisions per week.

Braverman confirmed that in her reply.

Diane Abbott (from Hansard):

“…The Home Secretary will be aware that one of the problems with the asylum system is the unacceptably long time it takes to process claims. The Home Affairs Committee heard evidence from the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, and he told us that currently caseworkers or decision makers are making 1.3 decisions a week. The Leeds pilot, which has been referred to, has put the number of decisions up to 2.7 decisions a week. Does the Home Secretary not understand that that is far too slow, and what is she going to do about it?”…

Suella Braverman’s reply:

“It is not often that I say this, but I agree with a lot of what the right hon. Lady has just said. She is right; when I arrived at the Home Office in September, I was dismayed to find that, as set out at the Select Committee last week, only 4% of claims waiting in the system have been processed so far, so we have a very slow-moving system. That is unacceptable and it is a big part of the problem, and part of our plan to solve the problem is to speed up asylum processing. We are putting more resources and technology behind it, and we are trying to identify how we can be more efficient. So yes, this is a big feature that is clogging up the system, and we see the pressure playing out at Manston.”

@Rinoachicken
Your figures are # decisions a week per caseworker or decision maker. Not the total number of decisions a week for the entire Home Office.

@Rinoachicken
I’ve found more recent figures
”The UK offered protection, in the form of asylum, humanitarian protection, alternative forms of leave and resettlement, to 15,684 people (including dependants) in the year ending June 2022. Of these:

12,968 were granted refugee status following an asylum application (‘asylum’)
859 were granted humanitarian protection
235 were granted alternative forms of leave (such as discretionary leave, UASC leave)
1,622 were granted refugee status through resettlement schemes

Additionally, 5,290 partners and children of refugees living in the UK were granted entry to the UK through family reunion visas”
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2022/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to

So that’s 403 decisions per week by the Home Office.

Thanks @Discovereads for clarifying. When I heard those figures on Monday I thought WTF?!

1 decisions per caseworker per week still seems very low to me, but I do appreciate these are not simple decisions.

As long as the UK Taxpayer is happy to pay c£7M a day to feed, shelter them, then there is no problem

The system is bogged down in legal challenges etc plus the system can’t cope

No one, apparently wants to bite the bullet and sort it out

Will await incoming 😳

I’m not sure they are happy atm. Not with the numbers in boats arriving anyway.

The trafficking issue seems particularly hard to bust. They had a hotel owner on earlier who confirmed Albanians usually left after 24 hours.

I also am not convinced money to Albania is the answer.

I agree and another WTF was Bravermans reply agreeing it’s too slow and they’re looking at efficiency measures. Which means she’s passed up the chance her predecessors used to ask for more much needed staff…and instead agreed Home Office is lazy and inefficient and floggings will commence until they make decisions faster. Home Office is losing staff due to over work and pressure. Yet more mismanagement.

@EngTech definitely not, think of what 7million a day could be spent on here.

This is pretty shocking if true:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/nov/02/home-office-leaves-asylum-seekers-from-manston-stranded-in-central-london?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Fucking disgrace. Left to fend for themselves. You wouldn’t treat a stray dog or cat like that much less a human being. Braverman should be forced to resign immediately.

That Guardian story is appalling.

The Home Office are dumping people at night without coats, appropriate shoes, money or even an idea where they are.

Operational error my arse.

Yes it is pretty awful

What had happened to them in other countries though. What accommodation are they offered in France

This.

You also can’t just measure asylum claims per country. There are many more asylum claims in European counties than the UK. The difference is that in European countries it’s easier to just deny asylum cases and either deport or not provide any housing or financial assistance. The UK is an Island, so we have to physically deport anyone who fails in their asylum claim, and that depends on both knowing their country of birth/residence, and having said country agreeing to accept them back.

You want to shoot people to make them think?

France need to stop the boats or prevent them being in their harbours in the first place

“Socialists” 😂😂 what year is it?

Don’t think you’re going to get much traction whinging that the lefty liberals are the baddies when you’re literally advocating shooting people 😂