He Labor government of the United Kingdom has taken another step in its plans to stop irregular immigration and the asylum applications. The Ministry of the Interior has presented this Monday a new package of measures to limit obtaining permanent residence in the country and to facilitate deportationsin an attempt to deter people who aspire to obtain refugee status. The package, inspired by the model recently implemented in Denmark, will also include the possibility of confiscate assets from asylum seekersincluding jewelry and vehicles, to finance part of their stay in temporary accommodation.
The British authorities may seize these assets from asylum seekers as long as do not have an emotional bond with the objects. The proposal aims to put an end to the cases, exposed by the Government itself, of people who stayed in hotels paid for with public money and who at the same time owned high-end cars or who received income from abroadalthough it has not been revealed how many cases of this type have been detected to date.
“It is fair that those who receive help pay for it if they can. Therefore, those who have income or assets will have to contribute to the cost of your stay“, assured the Minister of the Interior, Shabana Mahmood, in the presentation of the plan in the House of Commons. The Ministry assures, however, that they are not going to take away the “family heirlooms” to asylum seekers, which has raised questions about what criteria the Home Office will follow to determine whether these possessions have a valor sentimental for their owners.
Permanent residence
The Executive’s plan, titled ‘Restoring Order and Control’ (Restoring Order and Control), also plans to increase up to 20 years the period from which people with refugee status will be able apply for permanent residence in the country, far from the current five years. Until then, your legal situation will be reviewed every 30 monthswith the possibility of their asylum being revoked if the British authorities consider that their lives are no longer in danger in their countries of origin. The aim is to reduce the number of refugees staying indefinitely in the UK and accelerate deportations.
“Our asylum system is broken. The collapse of that asylum system is causing enormous division across our country. For me, resolving that divide is a moral mission“he pointed out Mahmood. “This country will always offer refuge to those fleeing danger. But we must also recognize that the world has changed. And our asylum system has not changed with him,” he added.
In addition to tightening the conditions to obtain permanent residence and refugee status, the Executive plan includes measures to limit interpretation What the judges do European Convention on Human Rights. Specifically of the article 3which protects people against torture or degrading treatment, and from article 8which guarantees the right to family life. According to the new proposal, family roots can only be claimed to avoid deportations or to accept new asylum applications if you have parents or children in the United Kingdom.
The Labor Government also wants to speed up the expulsion of families who remain in the country after their asylum application has been deniedwho continue to receive aid if they have minor children in their care. This situation, according to the Executive, serves as an incentive for new arrivals. “Once in the UK, asylum seekers can take advantage of the fact have had children and put down roots for thwart his expulsioneven if your application has been legally rejected,” says the document published this Monday by the Ministry of the Interior.
Internal divisions
The Labor Government’s plans represent a new attempt to stop the rise of the populist right-wing party Reform UKwhich clearly leads the polls with a tough speech against immigration. A strategy that is generating divisions in the Labor caucus and that has put the most left-wing sector of the party on a war footing, which believes that the Executive is taking the wrong direction in its battle with the populists. “Is shameful that a Labor government is destroying rights and protections of people who have suffered unimaginable traumas,” said the Labor MP Nadia Whittome in his speech in the House of Commons. Internal tension is increasing in the party, to the point that some party deputies could boycott the package of measures and try to prevent its approval in Parliament.
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