The United Kingdom's Home Secretary Priti Patel asked officials to explore the possibility of sending asylum-seekers to isolated, far-off islands while their claims are being processed, the Financial Times reported
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th September, 2020) The United Kingdom's Home Secretary Priti Patel asked officials to explore the possibility of sending asylum-seekers to isolated, far-off islands while their claims are being processed, the Financial Times reported.
According to the publication, the conservative politician entertained the idea of building migrant processing shelters on Ascension Island and Saint Helena, remote volcanic islands in the Atlantic ocean, and even consulted the Foreign Office on the feasibility of such an operation.
Patel is set to address her Conservative Party on Sunday to discuss the issue of asylum-seekers crossing the English Channel illegally. The issue has become a great concern to the anti-immigrant party, given reports of an uptick in channel-crossings this year, FT reported.
The newspaper cited unofficial estimates as indicating that some 5,000 people have arrived via small boats by the end of August since the beginning of the year, compared to fewer than 2,000 in the previous year.
Patel appeared to have taken note from the Australian government's policies, which is known for using offshore processing and detention centers for migrants arriving illegally. The policy is currently criticized for migrant rights violations and inhuman housing conditions.
A well-placed source told the FT that the Home Office is currently exploring different options to upgrade its migration policy but that no decisions have yet been made.
The UK's remote island possession are somewhere halfway between Africa and South America and have populations of a few thousand people.
