Asylum

Coalition of more than 100 organisations says move could lead to more children ending up in adult detention facilitiesA coalition of more than a hundred refugee children’s organisations has said controversial plans to use AI to assess the age of young asylum seekers could lead to more children wrongly ending up in adult prisons or detention centres.The warning follows a Home Office announcement on Friday of a contract to roll out AI facial age estimation technology on young asylum seekers whose age is disputed. Continue reading...

Judgment outlawing forcing of survivors of trafficking, torture and other forms of violence to share rooms is blow to Shabana Mahmood’s asylum plansShabana Mahmood’s plan to house more asylum seekers in former army barracks is facing a major hurdle after the high court ruled on Thursday that a policy change forcing torture victims to share rooms was unlawful.According to a judgment seen by the Guardian, the government failed in its duties when it forced survivors of trafficking, torture and other serious forms of violence to share rooms with strangers. Continue reading...

Local authorities deem UK arrivals to be children more than twice as often as border forces, Home Office data showsYoung asylum seekers in the UK are more than twice as likely to be assessed as adults by immigration officers than by social workers, according to home office data.Between July 2025 and March 2026, 4,320 initial age decisions made by immigration officials found just 1,363 new arrivals (32%) to be children. Continue reading...

Andry José Hernández Romero was deported from the US to El Salvador’s notorious Cecot prison before he was allowed to return to VenezuelaOne of the Venezuelan men sent from the US to El Salvador’s most notorious prison by Donald Trump has moved to Spain to request asylum after concluding that he did not feel safe back home and did not trust US authorities sufficiently to return to fight his legal case.Andry José Hernández Romero left Venezuela for Spain in early February and is due for his first asylum hearing in court there in a few days, hoping that the country’s liberal approach to immigration will afford him kinder treatment than the US or his own country had provided him, he revealed to the Guardian in his first interview since leaving for Europe. Continue reading...

Eritrean man was due to be forcibly removed to France under ‘one in, one out’ schemeAn Eritrean asylum seeker who was due to be forcibly removed to France today under the “one in, one out” scheme has had his ticket cancelled after making a serious attempt on his life, the Guardian understands.Other detainees said they believed he had made an attempt on his life because he feared he would be in danger in France due to his specific circumstances had he been forcibly returned there. He was discovered yesterday by his cellmate, who raised the alarm. He is now on round-the-clock suicide watch in detention.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

All 46 Council of Europe members sign agreement ‘deplored’ by human rights organisationsThe UK and 45 other European countries have signed an agreement that explicitly endorses plans to send unwanted asylum seekers to third country hubs.A political declaration from the 46 members of the Council of Europe, the body that oversees the European convention on human rights (ECHR), said states had an “undeniable sovereign right” to control their borders. Continue reading...

Council of Europe members plan to change interpretation of rights laws to make it easier to deport peopleKeir Starmer’s government has been accused of trying to water down legal protections for torture victims as ministers from 46 countries including the UK prepare to make it easier to deport refused asylum seekers and foreign criminals.Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, is expected to agree a “political declaration” on Friday with other members of the Council of Europe, which oversees the European convention on human rights (ECHR). Continue reading...

Exclusive: Council of Europe to hold meeting in Moldova on Friday, with human rights body set to declare recognition of countries’ right to control bordersEurope live – latest updatesEuropean ministers will this week discuss plans to send thousands of rejected asylum seekers to third-country hubs, the head of the continent’s human rights body has told the Guardian.Alain Berset, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, said discussions about the removal of people who arrived in Europe by irregular routes would take place “at a multilateral level” at a meeting in Moldova on Friday. Continue reading...

Shabana Mahmood has announced plan to cut leave to remain to 30 months, to concern of UN’s refugee agencyTwo Sudanese asylum seekers are challenging a key element of Labour’s plans to strip refugees of basic rights, rejecting the home secretary’s accusation that they are “asylum shoppers”.Shabana Mahmood has announced plans to halve refugees’ leave to remain in the UK from five years to 30 months, while refugees will have to wait 20 years before being eligible for permanent stay in the UK. Previously, people could apply for permanent settlement after five years. Continue reading...

Kurdish Syrian man, 26, said he fled forced conscription by YPG militia because he ‘didn’t want to kill people’An asylum seeker sent back to France under the controversial “one in, one out” scheme faces being returned to Syria after authorities in Paris ruled it was safe to do so, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind.When the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced the “groundbreaking” deal in July 2025 to stop small boats crowded with asylum seekers from crossing the Channel – by forcibly returning one small-boat asylum seeker to France in exchange for bringing one in northern France legally to the UK – they emphasised that France was a safe country for returnees. Continue reading...

Home secretary indicates Whitehall talks about returns programme, a move that would shock humanitarian groupsShabana Mahmood has refused to rule out sending rejected Afghan asylum seekers back to the Taliban-controlled country.The home secretary said she is “monitoring very closely” talks between Kabul and EU countries about a returns programme for refused claimants. She also indicated that “additional conversations” about Afghan returns were happening inside Whitehall. Continue reading...

Removal site in Dunkirk will hold people of 10 nationalities trying to reach UK in small boats under new deal with FrenchUK politics live – latest updatesThe UK will pay for 200 French officers to detain and deport people seeking asylum from some of the world’s most oppressive and war-ravaged regimes under a new UK-France deal to try to reduce Channel crossings.In what is being billed as the first time the French government has agreed to target those heading to the UK in small boats, a removal site in Dunkirk will be used to hold people from 10 countries: Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Syria, Vietnam and Yemen. The Home Office said they were the top 10 nationalities who crossed the Channel by small boat last year. Continue reading...

Australia’s Corporate Travel Management is ‘negotiating commercial arrangements’ to refund the moneyThe Australian company that ran the Bibby Stockholm asylum barge has admitted it overcharged the British government by £118m.Corporate Travel Management (CTM) said its auditor had found evidence of “erroneous billing” of its UK clients, increasing its estimate of how much it owes the government by £40m. Continue reading...

Judge in case of two families housed for years in single hotel rooms says they should have been moved within three monthsThe Home Office could face legal action from hundreds of asylum-seeking families stuck in single rooms in hotels after a judge criticised the “extraordinarily stressful” conditions in which they are expected to live.In a ruling, the deputy high court judge Alan Bates questioned why two families had been forced to live in single rooms for more than three years. He said they should have been moved to alternative accommodation within three months. Continue reading...

Refugee Council criticises Labour’s decision, saying military sites are unsuitable and ‘more expensive than hotels’Hundreds of asylum seekers have been removed from government-funded hotels while others have been sent to live in army barracks, the Home Office has announced.Eleven “asylum hotels” in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland have been closed, as first reported by the Guardian, and more will close “in the coming weeks”. About 350 claimants have been moved to the Crowborough military camp in east Sussex, described by a spokesperson as “basic accommodation”. Continue reading...

Inspection reveals use of force after protest by detainees being deported under ‘one in, one out’ schemeAsylum seekers who protested against being forcibly removed to France under the Home Office’s controversial “one in, one out” scheme, were transported out of the UK in waist and leg restraints, an inspection report has revealed.The report by HM chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, inspected a flight to France that took place on 20-21 January this year and on which it found no force was used. Continue reading...

Exclusive: closures are part of pledge by Labour to end all use of hotels for asylum seekers by end of this parliamentThe Home Office is to announce the closure of 11 asylum hotels this week as part of its pledge to close all hotels by the end of this parliament.The use of hotels to house asylum seekers has been controversial since it became widespread at the start of the Covid pandemic. Anti-migrant protesters have staged demonstrations outside the hotels, claiming asylum seekers are living a life of luxury in the hotels. Continue reading...

Figures gathered from children’s services and health trusts show 31 deaths were suicides, including six in under-18sMore than 50 young asylum seekers in the UK have died in the past decade, the majority by suicide, according to data compiled for the first time.Of 54 deaths of children and young people who claimed asylum between 2015 and 2024 in the care system, 31 were due to suicide, with seven homicides and eight fatal accidents. Only six deaths were due to health issues with two causes of death unknown, and 44 of the 54 have occurred since 2020. Continue reading...

Watchdog finds complaints against City of Sanctuary UK were ‘misleading and false’ after online attacks over its migrant welcome projectA refugee charity subjected to vicious social media attacks over a migrant welcome project in schools has been cleared after watchdogs found allegations it encouraged pupils to send Valentine’s Day cards to asylum seekers were misleading and false.City of Sanctuary UK came under fire last year after rumours spread online that under its schools programme, children were being “forced” to write heart-shaped welcome cards to adult migrants, including cards addressed to “my fiancé”. Continue reading...

Ahmad Mulakhil filmed himself during the assault in Nuneaton in JulyAn Afghan asylum seeker who abducted a 12-year-old girl and filmed himself as he raped her has been jailed for 15 years.Ahmad Mulakhil was found guilty of rape, child abduction, taking an indecent video and two counts of sexual assault last month. Mulakhil admitted a second count of rape before his trial began. Continue reading...

Rule change follows high court challenge brought by two doctors prevented from working in specialist fieldsDoctors who have been prevented from working in the NHS while they wait for asylum decisions are celebrating after the Home Office agreed to lift the ban. The changes come into force on Thursday.The changes to the immigration rules follow a high court challenge by two specialist doctors who had the relevant qualifications to work for the NHS but were prevented from taking up work. Doctors who have a break in their practice can quickly become deskilled. Until now, the ban has remained in place despite shortages of doctors and other healthcare professionals in some parts of the NHS. Continue reading...

Exclusive: At least four people have travelled back to the UK by lorry in the last two weeksAsylum seekers who arrived in the UK in small boats and were forcibly returned to France under the controversial “one in, one out” deal have returned to the UK in lorries, the Guardian has learned.When asked about the recent returnees, the Home Office said that people who came back to the UK after removal to France were detained and returned to France at the earliest opportunity. Amnesty International UK has called for “one in, one out” to be scrapped. Continue reading...

Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal, 41, died on Saturday in Texas less than 24 hours after being detainedAn Afghan immigrant who previously worked with the United States military in Afghanistan and later sought asylum in the US died over the weekend in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody less than 24 hours after being detained in Texas, an advocacy group said on Sunday.Mohommad Nazeer Paktyawal, who was living in a Dallas suburb with his wife and six children while his asylum case remained pending, was arrested by federal agents outside his apartment on Friday morning while taking his children to school, said a statement from Shawn VanDiver, president of the military veteran-led group AfghanEvac. Continue reading...

• Mohammad Nazeer Paktyawal, a 41-year-old Afghan immigrant who aided US forces, died on March 14 in ICE custody less than 24 hours after arrest outside his Dallas-area home while taking his six children to school. • Paktyawal's asylum case was pending; his death marks the 12th in ICE detention this year under Trump's mass deportation policy, following 31 deaths in 2025, the highest in two decades. • AfghanEvac president Shawn VanDiver highlighted the tragedy, criticizing ICE's role in Trump's immigration crackdown amid rising detention fatalities.

Minister Tony Burke confirms another member of Iran’s women’s football team left Australia late Sunday nightA fifth member of the Iranian women’s football team has left Australia after withdrawing their claim of asylum.Home affairs minister Tony Burke’s office confirmed on Monday that the woman had left late on Sunday night. Continue reading...