“Banning Channel migrants from claiming asylum flouts our legal and moral obligations”

Following the Home Secretary’s recent announcement, RAMP Principal David Simmonds MP writes in PoliticsHome that banning anyone who enters the United Kingdom without prior authorisation from claiming asylum is against Britain’s legal and moral obligations.

Stressing that this plan is a response to the increase of Channel crossings, David Simmonds is quick to point out that more of three quarters of people crossing the Channel end up claiming asylum in the UK. In the absence of safe and legal routes, he claims that it would be unlikely that any judge would find this proposal legal, moral, or reasonable. Instead, David Simmonds advocates for a new deal with France based on an agreement on returns and the development of safe routes for asylum seekers, for example by setting up se series of processing centres in France or develop routes that can be accessed by asylum seekers digitally.

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