WTAF? Asylum seekers to be detained across the UK in shock Rwanda operation

[Tenmus]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/28/home-office-to-detain-asylum-seekers-across-uk-in-shock-rwanda-operation

"The Home Office will launch a surprise operation to detain asylum seekers across the UK on Monday in preparation for deportation to Rwanda, weeks earlier than expected, the Guardian understands.
Officials plan to hold refugees who turn up for routine meetings at immigration service offices and will also pick people up nationwide in a two-week exercise.

They will be immediately transferred to detention centres, which have already been prepared for the operation, and held to be put on later flights to Rwanda. Others identified for these flights are already being held."

I am actually shocked by this. A cruel, inhumane action with terrible optics and a colossal waste of money.

Exactly. But as long as it's other countries that are shouldering the huge burden of being next door to Syria or Afghanistan (for example) that's fine with many of the posters here, who are whinging about our numbers which are a small fraction of what other countries are dealing with.

You haven't actually read the shortage occupations list, have you? The majority of those jobs are not unskilled.

@Livelovebehappy

The Tories polling figures are so bad for a large variety of reasons, and I’m pretty sure it’s not because people actually object to the the Rwanda scheme. Most people in the UK want the government to stop the boats coming by whatever means possible.

Most people in the UK have more important priorities such as a properly funded health and social care sector and a quality education for their children. all of which this Tory Government has failed miserably to provide.

Most people in the UK aren't fixating on 'small boats' despite what Sunak and his like would have you believe. It's a ruse to make you think that small boats and the people on them are the problem.

This current Government and those who came before are and have always been the problem. That's where your concern should lie.

Asylum seekers being the problem is a distraction technique designed to create hate and turn attention away from the awful harm the Tories have done during the last decade.

Gullible people everywhere.

Yes, great idea.
Also stop making people take student loans for jobs like nursing etc.

Exactly. There is no forward holistic thinking at government level. It seems to be about quick wins and lining pockets.

However you’d be better able to support and, let’s be real, tolerate migrants from Ireland and France/Germany because they are closely related to you as a group. There would be less friction and more acceptance. It would be easier for these groups to go home once things settle down. So I don’t think a global ‘fair share’ is quite right here. There’s a reason places like Turkey and Pakistan have the most in that they share borders with active conflict zones and have related ethnic groups on those borders

If a society said no because they couldn’t support you financially or culturally (ie your values are too different, like a strict Muslim country or an East Asian one with high standards of behaviour) do you think you should force yourself on them? Do you think your young men should have de facto priority, even if they are a nuisance for native women and girls?

What we need is faster processing, and if/when it's declined they should be deported immediately.

Those who destroy their passports/documents should be sent to Rwanda.

I live right by an immigration centre, it's not nice at all.

The home office will launch a surprise operation

🤣🤣🤣🤣
Let’s put it in the papers first!

Polished shoes did say
a huge range of unskilled work ie for those as you say without perhaps any qualifications

As you know Physics teachers and nuclear chemists are not unskilled

Interesting watch. There is a diagram that shows where the “migrants” come from and you will find that a huge percentage of people that are here supposedly “using up our resources” are here on government backed incentives such as encouraging international students and their families (a scheme which is being scrapped soon anyway); work visas etc.

The attention is always placed on asylum seekers - however the public should be given more insight on the plans for the wider migration system.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001xpqk/panorama-immigration-the-uks-record-rise

It is honestly, a fantastic idea. I really do hope that the young people (18 plus) that live in the uk, are able to volunteer in some way. I do think it's going to be a great project, if it's run properly. It may even become a model for other countries to adopt. It's fine for you not to like it, but you should give it a chance and see how it goes. Sometimes change is good. I am originally from another country by the way! Even I can see that immigration is becoming a real problem where I live now. The government needs to take a break on illegal immigration for the next 5 years, to let them catch up with social housing and nhs services. Your advice suggesting that I emigrate was a little childish. Pro Rwanda project supporters, are not all racist uk thugs!

Why do you think that? If you were a refugee, you’d consider things like:

1. Can you speak another language and can you get to a country that speaks that language? Or to a country that speaks your language already?
2. Do you have family in another country that’s suitably safe?
3. Is unemployment low in the country you’ve chosen?
4. Is the country you’ve reached now safe? Do you feel you may be safer elsewhere?
5. What links do you have to get to whichever country you may go to?
6. Does the country have a healthcare system you can access prior to having an address, residency etc?
7. How is the country you’re trying to seek safety in about the issue forcing you to leave your home? (Not generally war, but other issues)
8. Where have those who left before you sought safety?

Why would there be volunteer opportunities for British youth? Who would be facilitating this? What would they be doing, and what would the goal be?

They're only costing a lot because the Home Office is so slow in processing claims. Put in place a 6 month process as outlined by @Diggby and we would save a fortune on housing as well as getting people off benefits quickly because they would either be deported or have their claim accepted and be allowed to take employment.

This is so tedious, because this misconception is posted so often yet no-one ever seems to bother to research it or take notice of the many times it is corrected. There is no obligation on refugees to claim asylum in the first safe country they come to. If that were the case the countries bordering places like Ukraine and Afghanistan would be completely overwhelmed, whilst the UK would take no-one by virtue of being an island nation. The relevant treaties just don't work like that. The simple fact is that around 70% of asylum claims are accepted, so the people concerned have provided evidence to show they are genuine refugees.

To be fair, that is actually what happens. Most refugees do stay near home.

What's the relevance of this? That is not why the Rwanda proposal is in place.

And indeed why would it be OK to foist those problems off onto Rwanda?

That was actually the point @Diggby was making. @Polishedshoesalways assumes that the shortage occupations are in unskilled work, whereas the official lists show that is far from the truth.

Seriously? You really think all the above is something the refugees are focussing on when they're 'fleeing' their homeland?

I hate the Tories and what they have done to this country.

They manage to sink even lower every single day...going for disabled and sick people then immigrants.

Governing just to please the right wing media and a few lunatics while siphoning taxpayer money to make themselves and their rich mates even wealthier with dodgy contracts and expenses.

This is a right wing, cruel, corrupt government that shames the UK.

I hope the Tory party is obliterated, starting with the local elections and then the general one.

70% accepted? And you do realise that a lot of these asylum seekers destroy their documents before landing in the UK, and lie (shock horror)about where they have come from to make it easier to get accepted? The Home Office have to work with what they have, hence why there are so many accepted.

If, if, if….
And if you want to work in your trade to support yourself and pay taxes, but the government won’t let you…?
If you are culturally respectful and don’t impose your beliefs on others…?
Young men will always be the first to emigrate on a difficult and hazardous journey. My two immigrant friends, from DRC, fleeing torture, are not a nuisance. They are terrified.
Just out of interest, where are your immigrant friends from?

This is just plain wrong.

Section 8 Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc) Act 2004 provides that a person's credibility MUST be reduced if they have destroyed their documents, or failed to claim asylum immediately on arrival, or passed through a safe country on their way here. The Home Office absolutely don't just shrug their shoulders and limply say oh well, we have no idea who this is or where they've come from so we'll just believe whatever they say, and immigration judges certainly don't!

If an applicant has destroyed a document or lied about where they have come from then they can be disbelieved about the actual substance of their claim - the law requires it. The Tribunal can get past that by deciding that their credibility is damaged (as it must be) but that on balance they have still given an accurate account but it is an uphill struggle.

The reason that a large number are accepted is that globally there are an enormous number of people at risk of persecution. It's absolutely arguable that the Refugee Convention was not designed for an age of accessible global travel but there is no need to demonise all - or even 'a lot of' - refugees as deceitful to make that argument.

And yet chasing that vote was a huge part of how they got in last time!!

At no point did I say EVERYONE with concerns over immigration like that, but the Tories sure like to kiss the arses of the ones that are!