Home Office under fire as illegal migrants could claim millions for ‘unlawful detention’

The Home Office is under fire as nearly 200 illegal migrants could sue the government for millions over “unlawful detention.”

International security expert Henry Bolton OBE slammed the Home Office as their “basic logistics and support for these locations have been dire,” he told GB News.

Migrants who stayed that the former RAF base, Manston processing centre in Kent could win a taxpayer compensation.

The asylum seekers who were held at Manston are arguing that they were “unlawfully detained” and lived in “inhumane conditions.”

Bolton fumed at the immigration lawyers and told GB News, “They’re going to protect them, that’s their job, in a way. And they’re only able to do it if the law is badly designed and constructed or that it hasn’t been complied with.

“And that’s the reality of the situation. If that happens, then people will exploit those loopholes and gaps.”

He added, “I’ve helped up to 57 countries to help to sort out border problems, and in just about every case, one of the first things that you’ve got to do is consolidate all the relevant legislation.

“Now this country, we’ve got a plethora of acts of Parliament. We’ve got the Immigration Act 1971, the Asylum and Immigration Act 1999, we’ve got the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, Illegal Immigration Act 2023, we’ve got case law, we’ve got the European Court of Human Rights or Convention of Human Rights, we’ve got all these things.

And it’s been so badly constructed in the UK over the years that there are grey areas, there’s duplication, there are gaps, there’s inconsistency, there’s a lack of coherence overall that allows lawyers to exploit all sorts of things, so that’s going to happen.

He said that “Ultimately, however bad the legislation is, this problem comes down to bad or appalling Home Office planning.

They haven’t planned capacity properly, they haven’t planned and resourced case progression for asylum seekers, their basic logistics and support for these locations, such as Manston and Wethersfield and other locations, has been absolutely dire.

GB News host Andrew Pierce said, “Some say ridiculous, I say it’s outrageous.

You can blame the Home Office as much as you like, but actually, they chose to come here, they crossed the Channel, they were put up in a building with a roof, with electricity, hot running water, which is more than they get in the flipping camp in Calais. It’s outrageous that they’re able to sue the Government.”

Cohost Miriam Cates said, “The problem seems to be that legally, they’re not allowed to be detained for more than 24 hours, but on this particular day or set of days, because so many people had arrived, the Home Office couldn’t process them quickly enough.

“That seemed perfectly reasonable to me, and yet, because of this technicality, they’re able to sue the Government. It is extraordinary. I do think Henry’s right, at the root of all this is bad legislation desperately needs changing.”