27 minutes agoShareSaveSue MitchellBBC File on 4 InvestigatesShareSaveBBCMigrants cooking meals in dangerous conditions in their rooms and evidence of black market work have been uncovered by the BBC, in rare access inside asylum hotels.We went into four hotels, witnessing first-hand the lives of asylum seekers – some of whom have been living in cramped rooms for years and, in that time, have given birth to babies. Migrants who had been moved from one part of the country to another told us they were sometimes forced to travel long distances back to attend NHS appointments in taxis costing hundreds of pounds.Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said the BBC’s findings confirmed the government must “go faster” in ending the use of asylum hotels, looking at “all options including military sites”.The BBC investigation found:Smoke alarms covered with plastic bags as residents cooking meals used electric hobs in bathroomsOne asylum seeker who told us he had taken a 250-mile journey to visit a GP, with the driver telling him the cost to the Home Office was £600A 12-year-old girl living in a hotel who had spent three-quarters of her life in the asylum system. “Once we get settled in a place, then they move us,” she saidSome asylum seekers saying they had no choice but to work illegally for as little as £20 a day to pay off debts to people smugglersOur snapshot of conditions inside the four hotels raises wider questions for the government, with a large backlog of asylum claims having led to a reliance on this costly emergency accommodation for tens of thousands of people.We asked the government how much it spends on taxi travel for asylum seekers through a Freedom of Information Act request, but the Home Office told us it does not keep these figures.Mr Pennycook told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that it was “questionable” why asylum seekers needed to take such long taxi journeys and said the government would “look into those cases”. But he said asylum seekers were not “ordinary citizens just jumping on a bus”.Asked why asylum seekers who had lost appeals still had access to the NHS, the minister said the government was tightening legislation “so that our immigration rules are no longer abused”, because some people “cycle regularly” between multiple appeals.All the names of the hotel residents and staff Sue Mitchell met have been changed to protect their identitiesIn one of the hotels, as I eat a meal cooked on the floor of a shower, I realise nothing has prepared me for what life is like for the residents of an asylum hotel.I have been invited to join Kadir and his family for dinner – not in the hotel restaurant, but up in the rooms where he lives with his wife, Mira, and their three children.An electric cable, covered in thick insulating tape, has been extended into the bathroom. Behind the door, Mira is crouching over a small cooker in the shower tray. Pans are precariously placed on a hob and she is stirring away.As a pan full of oil starts to spit, I worry about the smoke alarm, but I needn’t bother. The sensor in the room has been sealed tight with plastic bags.This set-up is illegal and unsafe, but Kadir tells me his family would rather take the risk and make their own meals, than settle for the free hotel restaurant fare provided.He dismisses that as “chips and chicken nuggets” and says hotel residents have complained it makes them feel ill.The smell of herbs and spices wafting through the corridors seems to suggest they are not the only ones who feel this way.”Everybody, they’re cooking in their rooms like this,” claims Kadir. “We all do it, but we do it undercover.”Of the four hotels I visited this summer for File on 4 Investigates, two sites accommodated families, while the others were for single people – most of them men.But the stories in every hotel were similar.To protect the safety of residents and staff, I am not saying where the hotels are.I heard from families who have been waiting in the UK for nearly a decade for their cases to be decided – and from people who have had babies in the misguided belief that doing so will automatically guarantee mother and child being given British passports.There were uplifting stories of human spirit – including an elderly couple, both with serious health problems, who still managed to help others in their hotel with food and emotional support.But, at the same time, I have seen signs of hotel residents working illegally in the black economy and discovered that the asylum system appears to require an extraordinary number of taxi journeys.AFP via Getty ImagesThe government has pledged to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029. They currently house about 32,000 people across the UK, down from 51,000 in 2023.Asylum hotels – including two of those I visited – have become a focus for vocal and sometimes violent protests this summer, after a resident of one hotel in Epping, Essex, sexuall …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nn27 minutes agoShareSaveSue MitchellBBC File on 4 InvestigatesShareSaveBBCMigrants cooking meals in dangerous conditions in their rooms and evidence of black market work have been uncovered by the BBC, in rare access inside asylum hotels.We went into four hotels, witnessing first-hand the lives of asylum seekers – some of whom have been living in cramped rooms for years and, in that time, have given birth to babies. Migrants who had been moved from one part of the country to another told us they were sometimes forced to travel long distances back to attend NHS appointments in taxis costing hundreds of pounds.Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said the BBC’s findings confirmed the government must “go faster” in ending the use of asylum hotels, looking at “all options including military sites”.The BBC investigation found:Smoke alarms covered with plastic bags as residents cooking meals used electric hobs in bathroomsOne asylum seeker who told us he had taken a 250-mile journey to visit a GP, with the driver telling him the cost to the Home Office was £600A 12-year-old girl living in a hotel who had spent three-quarters of her life in the asylum system. “Once we get settled in a place, then they move us,” she saidSome asylum seekers saying they had no choice but to work illegally for as little as £20 a day to pay off debts to people smugglersOur snapshot of conditions inside the four hotels raises wider questions for the government, with a large backlog of asylum claims having led to a reliance on this costly emergency accommodation for tens of thousands of people.We asked the government how much it spends on taxi travel for asylum seekers through a Freedom of Information Act request, but the Home Office told us it does not keep these figures.Mr Pennycook told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that it was “questionable” why asylum seekers needed to take such long taxi journeys and said the government would “look into those cases”. But he said asylum seekers were not “ordinary citizens just jumping on a bus”.Asked why asylum seekers who had lost appeals still had access to the NHS, the minister said the government was tightening legislation “so that our immigration rules are no longer abused”, because some people “cycle regularly” between multiple appeals.All the names of the hotel residents and staff Sue Mitchell met have been changed to protect their identitiesIn one of the hotels, as I eat a meal cooked on the floor of a shower, I realise nothing has prepared me for what life is like for the residents of an asylum hotel.I have been invited to join Kadir and his family for dinner – not in the hotel restaurant, but up in the rooms where he lives with his wife, Mira, and their three children.An electric cable, covered in thick insulating tape, has been extended into the bathroom. Behind the door, Mira is crouching over a small cooker in the shower tray. Pans are precariously placed on a hob and she is stirring away.As a pan full of oil starts to spit, I worry about the smoke alarm, but I needn’t bother. The sensor in the room has been sealed tight with plastic bags.This set-up is illegal and unsafe, but Kadir tells me his family would rather take the risk and make their own meals, than settle for the free hotel restaurant fare provided.He dismisses that as “chips and chicken nuggets” and says hotel residents have complained it makes them feel ill.The smell of herbs and spices wafting through the corridors seems to suggest they are not the only ones who feel this way.”Everybody, they’re cooking in their rooms like this,” claims Kadir. “We all do it, but we do it undercover.”Of the four hotels I visited this summer for File on 4 Investigates, two sites accommodated families, while the others were for single people – most of them men.But the stories in every hotel were similar.To protect the safety of residents and staff, I am not saying where the hotels are.I heard from families who have been waiting in the UK for nearly a decade for their cases to be decided – and from people who have had babies in the misguided belief that doing so will automatically guarantee mother and child being given British passports.There were uplifting stories of human spirit – including an elderly couple, both with serious health problems, who still managed to help others in their hotel with food and emotional support.But, at the same time, I have seen signs of hotel residents working illegally in the black economy and discovered that the asylum system appears to require an extraordinary number of taxi journeys.AFP via Getty ImagesThe government has pledged to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029. They currently house about 32,000 people across the UK, down from 51,000 in 2023.Asylum hotels – including two of those I visited – have become a focus for vocal and sometimes violent protests this summer, after a resident of one hotel in Epping, Essex, sexuall …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
