One resident told the BBC that conditions in an overcrowded immigration center in Kent in southeastern England (England) were similar to living in a prison or zoo.
Ahmed (not his real name) said the people at the Manston machining center were treated like “animals” and 130 of them had to share a single large tent.
More than 4,000 migrants have been detained in the camp, which is expected to house 1,600 people in recent days.
The Interior Ministry said it met “all the basic needs” of the migrants.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick had previously insisted that the number of people in Manston was decreasing.
Ahmed, who left the center on Monday after staying for 24 days, said they were forced to sleep on the floor, prevented from going to the toilet, showering or going out to exercise.
He told the BBC he had fled his homeland of Iran for his freedom and to avoid persecution, and claimed he feared for his life.
But upon arriving in the UK and the centre, Ahmed said people were prevented from calling their families to let them know they had safely crossed into the UK.
“For the 24 days I was there, I couldn’t call my parents to say if I was dead or alive – they didn’t know anything about me,” he says.
“Everyone has a family there. They (the authorities) must know what happened to us.”
Manston, a former military base in Kent, was turned into a processing center in February for the growing number of migrants arriving in England by small boats. Immigrants should be held there for short periods as they pass through security and identity checks.
They must then be transferred to the asylum system of the Ministry of the Interior. In practice, they stay in hotels because they do not have suitable accommodation.
But Manston was busier over the weekend as 700 migrants were sent from another center in Dover, which was the target of Sunday’s bombing.
Several hundred refugees were resettled from downtown Manston on Tuesday, according to conservative Roger Gale, one of Kent’s lawmakers.
More will be revealed throughout the week, he said on his personal Twitter account: “This should never happen again.”
Jenrick tweeted on Tuesday that the number of immigrants detained at the center “has dropped significantly”.
“The numbers will drop significantly this week unless we get an unexpectedly high number of immigrants on small boats over the next few days,” he wrote. “It is imperative that the site returns to a sustainable operating model and we are doing everything we can to ensure that happens quickly.”
But the British Red Cross said that “the serious problems in Manston are indicative of the broader problems facing the asylum system”.
A large number of immigrants came to England this year. Nearly 40,000 people have arrived in Kent so far this year – about 1,000 people crossed the Channel on Saturday alone.
Separately, the BBC received photographs of unaccompanied children forced to sleep on the floor at another Home Office facility in Kent, unnamed. The photos show a sparsely decorated room with a few books and a board game as entertainment to help pass the time in the property.
You can see doodles in different languages on the walls and a row of plastic chairs attached to the floor. The facility is used to house unaccompanied refugee children.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Manston has the resources and equipment to safely house the migrants. We will provide alternative accommodation as soon as possible.
“The number of people arriving in the UK in small boats has reached record levels, which has put our asylum system under incredible stress and is costing British taxpayers millions of pounds a day.”
“We cater to all the basic needs of people who are tired, cold, dressed in wet clothes, and may not have eaten during the trip. The Department of Home Affairs offers 24/7 healthcare in Manston as well as 24/7 healthcare facilities. have plans to address health issues such as infectious diseases. “.
The government is under tremendous pressure to combat the increase in small boat crossings and expedite the processing of migrants already in the UK.
Interior Minister Suella Braverman has been accused by opposition parties of failing to heed legal advice to provide additional hotel accommodation and thus avoid overcrowding in the centre.
Braverman denied the allegations.
The Home Secretary was also accused of using provocative language after he said the south of England was facing an immigrant “invasion” during a heated session of the House of Commons (the equivalent of the House of Representatives in Brazil).
The Refugee Council described Braverman’s language as “horrible, wrong and dangerous”. Immigration Minister Jenrick later said politicians should be careful about the language they use on immigration matters.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said at a meeting on Tuesday that he told his cabinet that the UK “will always be a caring and hospitable country”.
Meanwhile, counter-terrorism police took over the investigation into the bombing of an immigration processing center in Dover, Kent, last Sunday (30/10).
Detectives said Andrew Leak, 66, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, probably carried out the attack in “a sort of hateful anger” before killing himself.
– This text was published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-63500879.
source: Noticias
