Two people have been arrested in connection with a BBC undercover investigation into immigration advisers helping some asylum seekers pretend to be gay to stay in the United Kingdom (UK).
The coordinated raids in east London were led by the criminal and financial investigations section of the home office’s immigration enforcement team.
Last month BBC News revealed how migrants whose visas are due to expire are being instructed how to obtain fake evidence, including supporting letters and photographs, to support asylum claims.
The investigation secretly filmed at an event for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers where a succession of migrants told an undercover reporter that most of those attending were not genuinely gay. The home office announced an investigation in response.
A woman in her late forties was arrested on suspicion of providing an immigration service contrary to section 91 of the Immigration and Asylum Act, while a man in his early twenties was arrested on suspicion of fraud, a home office source says.
Immigration minister Mike Tapp, who attended one of the raids, says such advice undermined the claims of genuine asylum seekers.
“If lawyers, or so-called lawyers, and legal advisers are out there providing this dodgy advice, we’re coming after that. And as you’ve seen today, we’ll make those arrests,” he says.
“Our asylum system is there for people who are genuinely fleeing persecution and war and I’m really proud of that. But people that are trying to abuse it will not be accepted.”
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp says: “A handful of arrests changes nothing while the underlying incentive remains intact.
“The Conservatives would end it at source by banning asylum claims from illegal arrivals, leaving the European Convention on Human Rights and removing illegal arrivals within a week.”
Liberal Democrat spokesperson for immigration and asylum Will Forster says: “We need an asylum system that is fair, controlled and efficient.
“Britain will proudly do its part in helping those genuinely fleeing persecution, but we will not tolerate abuse of the system.”
Green Party leader Zack Polanski has previously said there is a wider issue of the government having “inconsistent policies” which create “perverse incentives for these kind of unscrupulous business and industries to pop up”.
Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf says: “Labour can claim no credit for clamping down on lawyers aiding false asylum claims when they failed to act themselves.
“Millions have entered this country illegally, and must be deported.”
– BBC
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