UK Government might ship migrants to Balkans and ‘lock them up’ in detention centres
Plans are being considered around whether or not to deport failed asylum seekers to the Balkans and ‘lock them up’ in ‘detention centres’ after ditching the Rwanda scheme
Labour is considering plans to deport failed asylum seekers to the Balkans and hold them in ‘detention centres’ after the number of migrants crossing the Channel exceeded 5,000 this year.
Asylum seekers could be sent to ‘return hubs’ in the western Balkans, in countries like Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and North Macedonia if their asylum applications are rejected. Britain would
Human traffickers took advantage of the Channel’s calm conditions this month and more than 1,100 small boat migrants reached the UK. On Thursday, 341 people crossed in six boats.
The number of the migrants intercepted and brought to shore by Border Force since the beginning of the year has hit 5,025 – 24% higher than this stage last year.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security. The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.”
Albania has two empty detention centres after Italian plans to use them as processing centres for asylum seekers fell through.
The ‘hubs’ could be used to house rejected asylum seekers from countries deemed unsafe under UK law, like Afghanistan or Iran, but they could also be used to temporarily house those rejected from ‘safe’ countries, before they are deported.
The UN Refugee Agency confirmed that between January and December 2024, , some 17,500 refugees and migrants were estimated to have transited through the Western Balkans as part of mixed movements, 43% less than in the same period last year.
Labour’s suggestion comes after their decision to scrap the Tories’ Rwanda plan, designed to deter people from risking their lives on the treacherous journey across the channel. The Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that Rwanda was considered an “unsafe” country.
This new idea would only remove asylum seekers after their case was rejected. A government source told The Times: ‘We’re looking at the widest possible set of options with a completely open mind. Any scheme we’d consider would always need to meet the test of being affordable, workable and legal.’
Sky political correspondent Amanda Akass said a Home Office source “won’t say which countries are being considered because they don’t want to pre-empt any discussions which haven’t even officially begun yet”.
But she said the source confirmed the government is closely looking at the example of Italy. She said there have been legal challenges to that deal, but that the government is watching to see what the outcome might be.
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