Dungavel closure 'worsens plight' of asylum seekers
Categories: Articles:Asylum & Refugees |
Published: 12/09/2016 |
Views: 1246
ASYLUM seekers face rapid removal from Scotland and restrictions on their right to appeal deportation under plans to replace the notorious Dungavel holding centre with a "short-term" unit near Glasgow Airport, campaigners warn. (Kate Devlin, Herald Scotland)
Many of the refugees were locked up indefinitely, including four children in the Ay family from Kurdistan who were incarcerated for more than a year before deportation, sparking long-standing campaigns to close the immigration unit in South Lanarkshire.
Conservative immigration minister Robert Goodwill said that asylum seekers will spend less than a week in the new 'short term' centre which has easy access to London airports - a departure point for most deportations - and mean those with "no right to be in the UK can be removed with less delay". He added that the replacement unit, which would open by the end of 2017, involve a “significant saving” for taxpayers.
Human rights campaigner Robina Qureshi, the director of migrant homeless charity Positive Action in Housing, said Dungavel had been a "scar" on Scottish soil that contributed to the suicide of several asylum seekers. But she raised concerns about the plans for its replacement. Read more here
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