Asylum seekers locked up in detention centers as part of Labor’s “One in, One Out” Deal has said they had never heard of the scheme before they arrived at small boats and were terrified of returning to their home country.
The Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has said that the plan to send a small boat contract back to France in exchange for accepting another to live in the UK, would prevent the thousands from crossing the channel.
Since the first group of small boat arrivals was held just over a week ago on August 6, 2,363 people have crossed the channel. More than 50,000 have been crossed since the birth came to power.
“I was so happy to survive the journey over the canal and reach land in the UK. Then the home office locked me up. I am still in a shock state,” said a man from Eritrea, who spoke to the Guardian by telephone from a detention center.
“We didn’t understand what happened to us when the home office moved us from Manston [the former military base in Kent] Where we were processed, directly to this place that is like a prison.
“When we asked why they took some who arrived here on the same boat as me, but let others go, they didn’t answer us. They just said it was because we crossed the channel illegally.”
The man said that neither he nor someone he knew in North France, knew anything about the deal “one in, one out” and was not sure that people would continue to cross the channel.
“I am very scared here. There are people who have committed crimes in the UK with us. We have done nothing wrong, except trying to find a safe place.”
He claimed to have been traded and tortured when he passed Libya on his journey from Eritrea. “I believe that if I am sent back to France and the smugglers find me, they will kill me,” he said.
A second man from Afghanistan also spoke with the Guardian against detention. He said: “The home office has just locked us up in these rooms and said that we cannot go from here. We are afraid of the dangerous criminals who are locked up with us. We are so afraid of what home office will do to us.
“The Taliban tried to kill me, so I escaped from Afghanistan. I thought I was free when I reached [the] VK, but instead I am in this prison. We knew nothing about the ‘one in, one out’ deal when we left France. I don’t know if it will stop people who cross the channel. ‘
The Home Office says that the first group of prisoners is expected to be returned to France within three weeks, whereby the VK Potential returners will refer to the French authorities within three days of their detention and the French would be expected to respond within 14 days.
A brochure given to prisoners by the home office says that those who have been returned to France can get a financial incentive by the French authorities to return to their home country. It requires prisoners to inform the home office whether they are seriously ill or a victim of rape, torture or violence, although officials are supposed to screen on these vulnerabilities before they hold people.
Karris Hamilton, a interest manager at Gatwick Detaines Welfare Group, who supports those who are reserved for forced return to France, said: “We are very worried about the well -being of men being held for the ‘one in, one out’ scheme.
“Those with whom we have spoken so far have been in acute need and many have been the victim of torture, exploited by human traffickers on their travels or victims of modern slavery in Libya.
“People find it difficult to eat and sleep by being in a prison environment, not knowing how long they will be there and for fear that they can be brought back to France. We are very concerned that we will see an increase in self -harm, suicide attempts and hunger attacks.”
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