UK: Conservatives call for reform of asylum system
In October 2022, the ship “BF Hurricane” arrives in Dover with migrants recovered from the English Channel (photo illustration).
AFP - BEN STANSALL
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
In the United Kingdom, immigration is debated daily, particularly with regard to crossings of the English Channel.
They exceed 40,000 this year.
To curb them, some of the conservatives are calling for a reform in the law of the asylum system.
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With our correspondent in Dublin,
Émeline Vin
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, around fifty Conservative MPs are demanding that asylum applications can be automatically rejected for nationals of certain countries deemed “safe”.
This legal modification should allow, according to them, to cut the "Gordian knot" that represents the crossings of the English Channel.
Among the signatories, former ministers and executives of the Conservative Party.
They explain that the current law prevents the deportation of an asylum seeker who claims to be a victim of human trafficking and that many migrants “abuse” this provision and thus clog up the reception system.
They particularly target the Albanians, the majority in the Channel crossings: “
If they were brought here against their will,
they write,
then they should not be unhappy to be sent home.
»
By de facto excluding economic migrants from countries deemed safe, elected officials wish to dissuade candidates from crossing and reduce the waiting period for examining an asylum application – currently several years.
The government has yet to respond to the request.
►Read again: United Kingdom: record net immigration of half a million people in one year
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