Afghan family detained in tent for a month amid ‘chaotic’ Home Office response to Channel boats

An Afghan family with young children has been detained in a tent for a month because of the Home Office’s “chaotic” response to Channel crossings, MPs have been told.

Officials appearing before the Home Affairs Committee admitted that asylum seekers were being kept at a holding facility intended for 24-hour periods for weeks after arriving on small boats.

The hearing was told that almost 3,000 people were being detained at a former RAF base at Manston, Kent, where cases of diphtheria and scabies have been reported.

There are no cooking facilities and some asylum seekers are sleeping on mats on the floor, because the Home Office has no accommodation to move them into while their claims are processed.

David Neal, the independent chief inspector of Borders and Immigration, told the committee that he was left “speechless” by what he witnessed during a visit on Monday and immediately wrote to the home secretary and prisons watchdog.

“I spoke to an Afghan family who had been in a marquee for 32 days, with kit mats on the floor and blankets,” he said, describing the children as “young”.

Mr Neal said he spoke to Iraqi and Syrian families who had been at Manston for weeks, with one mother “terribly distressed because she didn’t know where they were going”.

“These are wretched conditions,” he added. “It’s a really dangerous situation, it’s failing to address vulnerability.

“There are risks there in terms of fire, disorder, medical issues and infection … There are 2,500 people not guarded by appropriately trained people. No prison in the country holds that many people.”

Mr Neal said on the day he visited Manston only 78 migrants were transferred out – the daily average was 137 – but hundreds were arriving.

Clandestine channel threat commander Dan O’Mahoney, who was appointed by Priti Patel to coordinate the response to Channel crossings, admitted that more than 3,000 people had been held at Manston at some points and some had been held there for a month.

“We are trying to increase the amount of accommodation [to move people to], that is our main priority to solve the problem,” he added.

It is unclear whether the arrangement is legal, with Mr O’Mahoney saying the “rules allow for 24 hours” detention.

MPs were told that Grant Shapps signed off on the procurement of new hotels to house asylum seekers during his days in the post, but that the available supply was “getting shorter”.

The drive will increase the cost of hotels, which currently amount to £5.6m a day for asylum seekers and £1.2m a day for resettled Afghan refugees.

An additional £50m has been spent on the Royal Navy operation to patrol the Channel and coordinate the response, to prevent loss of life and “uncontrolled” boat landings.

More than 38,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel in dinghies so far this year, with 93 per cent of those claiming asylum.

The Home Office has changed the law and immigration rules so it can declare asylum applications from people who have passed through safe countries like France “inadmissible” and refuse to consider them, but with the Rwanda deal floundering it has nowhere to send them.

Officials told the Home Affairs Committee that only 4 per cent of claims by 2021 boat arrivals had been processed, but 85 per cent of those applications were granted.

Chair Dame Diana Johnson pointed out that ministers have repeatedly described people who cross the Channel as “economic migrants”, rather than “genuine refugees”.

Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham Tim Loughton called the proportion of claims processed “ridiculous”, while the Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree Paula Barker said she was seeing “utter chaos” in Home Office asylum processing in her constituency.

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Officials said the Home Office was attempting to cut down a record backlog of undecided asylum cases by employing more decision-makers and speeding up the process.

At the same time, work is ongoing with France aiming to prevent a greater number of boats from reaching English waters.

So far this year, French authorities have stopped 42 per cent of migrant crossing attempts and more than half of boats launching – a similar proportion to last year but almost double the numbers in real terms.

Mr O’Mahoney said the number of Albanians using small boats had increased “exponentially” from 50 in 2020 to 800 in 2021 and 12,000 so far this year.

He said the Home Office believes the rise is due to Albanian criminal gangs gaining a foothold in northern France and beginning to facilitate “very large numbers of migrants”.

“There are people who need our help but there are a large number deliberately gaming the system,” he added.

Mr O’Mahoney alleged that some Albanians were using asylum and modern slavery claims to gain temporary residence in the UK while their claims are decided, before disappearing into illegal work.

During her first stint as home secretary, Suella Braverman triggered work on potential legislation to change the way modern slavery and human rights apply to small boat migrants but it was still at an early stage.

Dan Hobbs, the Home Office director for asylum, protection and enforcement, told the committee: “We are looking at misuse of the modern slavery system is to ensure it is there to protect genuine victims, be they British nationals or foreign nationals.”

He did not confirm whether a new policy would be brought forward, adding: “It’s not something we’ve been able to get clarity on this morning.”