A Migrant Centre in Kent has come under fire after a recent resident compared conditions at the centre to a prison and a zoo.
Manston Migrant Centre
The centre, which is used as a holding area for migrants who travel to the UK in small boats, has recently seen a surge in occupants. While it only has the capacity for 1600 people, there have been as many as 4000 migrants there over the past couple of weeks.
The purpose of the centre is to hold migrants while security and identity checks take place, meaning they are only supposed to be there for a short period of time. After the checks are complete, they move to the Home Officeโs Asylum accommodation system.
One migrant, known as Ahmed, has recently passed through the Centre and has been talking to the BBC about his experiences in Manston. He had fled Iran after living the majority of his life in fear and had come to Britain looking for a new start.
Despite the Home Office insisting that all migrants at the Centre are receiving all basic needs, Ahmed tells of a different experience. What he found when he arrived in Kent was a living situation where he was forced to sleep on the floor alongside over 100 other migrants in one tent. He also wasnโt allowed to go to the toilet, have a shower or enjoy any outdoor exercise.
He said:
โFor the 24 days I’m in there, I can’t call to my family to say to them I’m dead, I’m living – they don’t know anything about me,” he said.
“All people in there, they have a family. They should know what is happening to us.”
Migrants are being moved from Manston
The issues outlined by Ahmed and other residents have been taken on board by the Home Office and a Conservative MP has confirmed that โseveral hundredโ migrants have been moved from Manston and relocated elsewhere in the past 24 hours.
Sir Roger Gale, the MP in question, tweeted that this kind of overcrowding situation must never be allowed to happen again. This came after various coachloads of migrants were taken away from Manston. It is unclear at this point whether have been moved to hotels or alternative accommodation.
Immigration Minister, Robert Jenrick, has said that the operation to relocate hundreds of migrants from Manston has resulted in a substantial drop in the number of asylum seekers being held in the centre. He said:
“Unless we receive an unexpectedly high number of migrants in small boats in the coming days, numbers will fall significantly this week.”
It’s imperative that the site returns a sustainable operating model and we are doing everything we can to ensure that happens swiftly.”
The response of the Home Office
While Suella Braverman continues to cling on to her job as Home Secretary, her Office has released a statement on the concerning situation at Manston.
“Manston remains resourced and equipped to process migrants securely and we will provide alternative accommodation as soon as possible.
The number of people arriving in the UK via small boats has reached record levels, which has put our asylum system under incredible pressure and costs the British taxpayer millions of pounds a day.
We provide for all the basic needs of people who will have arrived tired, cold, in wet clothing and who may not have eaten during their journey. The Home Office provides 24/7 health facilities at Manston as well as having robust contingency plans to deal with health issues such as communicable diseases.โ
This statement came after Braverman had described the rising number of asylum seekers in the UK as an โinvasionโ. This prompted the Refugee Council to slam the Home Secretary for her โappalling, wrong and dangerousโ remarks.
Final thought
The Red Cross has said that the โserious problems at Manston are indicative of the wider issues facing the asylum systemโ and itโs hard to argue against that. 1000 asylum seekers crossed the English Channel on Saturday alone and the conditions that greet them are far from ideal.
Sadly, with a Home Secretary who seems to lack empathy, itโs difficult to see these conditions improving in the coming months.