Even though elements of Shabana Mahmood’s package of asylum reforms had been pre-announced over the course of several days, there was something new and potentially controversial left over for Monday’s House of Commons statement.”We must remove those who have failed asylum claims, regardless of who they are,” the home secretary told MPs. “Today, we are not removing family groups, even when we know that their home country is perfectly safe.”The language in the accompanying document published by the government was starker, arguing that the “hesitancy” to deport families “creates particularly perverse incentives” – namely, encouraging asylum seekers to bring children with them on the perilous journey across the Channel. “Once in the UK, asylum seekers are able to exploit the fact that they have had children and put down roots in order to thwart removal, even if their claim has been legally refused,” the document says.The government says it will instead offer families whose asylum claims have been rejected financial incentives to return to their home countries, and if they refuse it will deport them. There will be a consultation on the precise process for enforcing the removal of families, including children.It’s not hard to see this becoming one of several flashpoints, especially for those Labour MPs who are already anxious about the government’s direction of travel. A handful of them raised the issue with Mahmood in the Commons on Monday – particularly the question of how children being deported alongside their parents would be treated.This is likely to sit alongside the conversion of refugee status into a temporary status and the quadrupling of the waiting period for refugees to get permanent residence in the UK from five to 20 years as the most controversial features of Mahmood’s reforms.Th …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnEven though elements of Shabana Mahmood’s package of asylum reforms had been pre-announced over the course of several days, there was something new and potentially controversial left over for Monday’s House of Commons statement.”We must remove those who have failed asylum claims, regardless of who they are,” the home secretary told MPs. “Today, we are not removing family groups, even when we know that their home country is perfectly safe.”The language in the accompanying document published by the government was starker, arguing that the “hesitancy” to deport families “creates particularly perverse incentives” – namely, encouraging asylum seekers to bring children with them on the perilous journey across the Channel. “Once in the UK, asylum seekers are able to exploit the fact that they have had children and put down roots in order to thwart removal, even if their claim has been legally refused,” the document says.The government says it will instead offer families whose asylum claims have been rejected financial incentives to return to their home countries, and if they refuse it will deport them. There will be a consultation on the precise process for enforcing the removal of families, including children.It’s not hard to see this becoming one of several flashpoints, especially for those Labour MPs who are already anxious about the government’s direction of travel. A handful of them raised the issue with Mahmood in the Commons on Monday – particularly the question of how children being deported alongside their parents would be treated.This is likely to sit alongside the conversion of refugee status into a temporary status and the quadrupling of the waiting period for refugees to get permanent residence in the UK from five to 20 years as the most controversial features of Mahmood’s reforms.Th …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
