UK Asylum seekers continue to face an uncertain future, with the government taking various initiatives to cut down on illegal immigrants and massive expenditures incurred to house them.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick recently disclosed some unsettling news to asylum seekers. He revealed that by January, 50 hotels will be closed to asylum seekers.
It seems the government won’t be just stopping here as well. He added that in the upcoming months, his plans for bringing down asylum claims will be put to work while the hotel contracts are terminated.
The hotels that were mentioned belong to all four nations within the UK. It’s quite an eye opener that around 400 hotels were put to use to house a huge number of asylum seekers.
Apparently, these hotel contracts cost the taxpayers a massive £8 million a day! Which is why the immigration minister believes that this is simply “unsustainable” and “unacceptable”.
However, Stephen Kinnock, who’s the shadow immigration minister for Labour, has dismissed this announcement. He added that Jenrick was planning to close only a meager 12% of the hotels that are in use at the moment.
With an increasing number of asylum claims in the UK, the number of hotels that are in use has grown significantly as well.
While the claims were being processed, the Home Office was obligated to provide these UK asylum seekers with housing. Or else they would’ve been without a roof over their heads.
Did you know that in August, a record breaking 175,000 asylum applications were under processing?
However, not all numbers are reaching a peak. The number of small boat crossings has gone down by 30%, according to statistics. This means it’s seen a reduction from 37,578 from last year to 26,501 so far this year.
Remember the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda? Well, they expect that sending some asylum seekers to claim asylum in Rwanda would also help further reduce these crossings.
The Supreme Court is still considering the legality of the scheme since the High Court ruling was overturned by the Court of Appeal, which said that this was a lawful plan.
What lies ahead for the future of asylum seekers? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
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