Asylum system is broken, illegal migration ‘tearing our country apart’, says UK home secretary

UK’s Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said on Sunday that the asylum system in the country has gone “out of control” and is putting huge pressure on communities. She also announced plans to end the permanent status of refugees, who would need to reapply every two and a half years to remain in Britain. The home secretary further said that refugees, including Ukrainians, who have established lives and have homes and families in the UK will have to return if their home countries become safe, a policy modelled on the controversial system in Denmark. Mahmood is likely to make the announcements on Monday.

Refugees are currently given protection for five years, after which they can apply for indefinite leave to remain, which offers a route to British citizenship. As per the planned changes, people who arrive illegally will have to wait 20 years before they can apply for permanent settlement, but this will apply only to new arrivals.

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She also rejected accusations that the government was using the language of the far right. “I am the child of migrants myself. My parents came to this country lawfully in the late 60s and in the 70s. Immigration is absolutely woven into my experience as a Brit and also that of thousands of my constituents,” she said.

“This is a moral mission for me, because I can see illegal migration is tearing our country apart. It is dividing communities. People can see huge pressure in their communities, and they can also see a system that is broken and where people are able to flout the rules, abuse the system and get away with it,” she added.

Mahmood said that the reforms will change the assumption that sanctuary provided to refugees can very quickly lead to permanent settlement.

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She said Ukrainians had come to the UK under a different system but it is still a temporary arrangement.

“And of course, it is the wish of most of those Ukrainian individuals that one day they will return to Ukraine once the conflict is over.”

Mahmood said some rules had led to a system under which asylum seekers had more access to protected accommodation than some British citizens. Besides, those granted asylum will now have to comply with the laws and rules. “Those who have the right to work should work and support themselves.”

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The government has said assistance will become discretionary, meaning it will be able to deny help to those who can work or have assets.

Mahmood says the proposals are “the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times” and will help “restore control and fairness”.

Majortiy of the 100,000 people getting asylum support in the UK have been given accommodation by the state.

The Home Office also announced that AI would be used to assess the ages of people who arrived illegally. The facial age-estimation technology has been trained on thousands of images.