Refugees Stranded as Sunak Claims Victory: Some people have said that the government’s plan to get rid of the backlog of protection cases by the end of 2023 has left thousands of refugees without homes or food. It comes after ministers caused a stir by saying they had kept one of Rishi Sunak’s big promises.
Home secretary James Cleverly went to TV stations on Tuesday, January 2, to say that the government had kept a key promise by processing all “legacy” refugee cases by the end of 2023.
Refugees Stranded as Sunak Claims Victory in Asylum Backlog Clearing
But people who didn’t agree with the government said they “cooked the books” by removing and falsifying cases. They also said that the rush to process asylum claims had forced refugees out into the streets.
According to The Big Issue, the number of people who lost their homes because they were kicked out of Home Office housing tripled because asylum cases were processed quickly and the time newly recognized refugees had to give before having to leave Home Office housing, like hotels, was changed.
“The government’s failed attempt to clear their self-titled ‘legacy backlog’ has not been without consequence as they have left thousands of refugees destitute in the process,” Steve Smith, CEO of Care4Calais, told The Big Issue.
“With no plan for onward accommodation for ‘new refugees’, and with many people’s asylum claims erroneously withdrawn due to government errors, our volunteers are dealing daily with asylum seekers left on the UK’s streets as a result of this government’s failures.”
I said that this government would clear the backlog of asylum decisions by the end of 2023.
That’s exactly what we’ve done.
Over 112,000 cases are now cleared with a lower grant rate than last year, a key part of our plan to stop the boats.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) January 2, 2024
Because of the cold weather and lack of housing, refugees whose claims are being handled and who are told to leave Home Office housing often end up on the streets, where they face serious risks to their lives. CEO of London’s New Horizon, Phil Kerry, told The Big Issue that he had to take a refugee to A&E because he found him sleeping on the organization’s steps.
After being put on hold for Christmas, people will be kicked out of refugee hotels again on Wednesday, January 3. Another thing the government has done is stop a part of the protection process that gave many newly recognized refugees only one week to find a place to live.
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The Big Issue reported that both U-turns happened after a lot of towns and charities said that the Home Office’s policies were making people homeless and making it harder for housing services that were already having a hard time.
“The reality is that the Home Office has lost track of too many people who have been removed from the asylum process and at the same time left those who have been granted refugee protection to fend for themselves, at risk of sleeping rough during the winter months,” said Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council.
“After mismanaging the asylum system for so many years the government was right to clear the backlog but was wrong to do it in a way that has failed to see the face behind the case and instead has treated people simply as statistics rather than with the care and compassion they deserve.”
Ministers have been adamant that 4,500 cases should not be put in the “legacy” queue because they are “complicated.” The government has handled more claims than any other year since 2002, according to James Cleverly. Fifty refugee hotels have also been turned back over to private use.
The Home Office says it has cleared its asylum backlog, but critics accuse the government of manipulating the figures.
Home Secretary James Cleverly spoke to #BBCBreakfast https://t.co/9hN5yGWeW2 pic.twitter.com/AOWndvU5cB
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) January 2, 2024
“This government’s claims about ‘clearing’ the asylum backlog are, at best, misleading. We have seen forced withdrawal of claims, which is liable to lead to a rise in legal cases as people challenge them, along with a reclassification of people’s claims to bury numbers,” Daniel Sohege, director of migration charity Stand For All, told The Big Issue.
“This is not a way to treat vulnerable people seeking safety. All it inevitably does is lead to more people being left in limbo, while kept in increasingly dire conditions.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that the government has cleared the pile of refugee cases. Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said this was “just not true.”
Asylum decisions would be made faster by this government, I promised, by the end of 2023. “That’s exactly what we did,” Sunak wrote on X, which used to be called Twitter.
Sunak promised to clear the legacy backlog by the end of 2023. This backlog is made up of refugee cases that were filed before June 2022. However, there are still about 100,000 cases waiting to be processed.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today show that he was “not going to rush” through the last few cases and wouldn’t say when they would be finished.
