Data published yesterday has piled yet more pressure on the government to change its asylum policy. Analysis by the Telegraph has shown that 211 people living in asylum seeker hotels have been charged with crimes since the beginning of the year. This includes eight who have been charged with 12 sex offences against children, 32 sexual offences against adults and 109 violent offences. A 24-year-old who was charged with ‘attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child’ failed to appear at his trial on 20 June.
Yet again, the regime seems to believe that lying is preferable to keeping its people safe
The reported data relates to just 50 of the 200 plus asylum seeker hotels currently in use across the country, so the real total of those charged with crimes may well be much higher. And of course, this data ignores the rising number of asylum seekers being housed in privately rented accommodation throughout the country.
Unfortunately full and complete information is not available. Police forces do not consistently make nationality and immigration status public when people have been charged, and this data is neither gathered centrally nor published. Despite the recent Casey report making it clear that police concerns about ‘raising tensions’ caused a great deal of harm, the police still do not seem to have got the message.
Just last week we learned that Warwickshire Police had chosen not to disclose that two Afghan asylum seekers had been charged with the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton. George Finch, the Reform leader of Warwickshire County Council made the information public and accused police of a ‘cover-up’. The Chief Constable of Warwickshire responded by insisting that ‘in events such as these it is good practice for police agencies to work closely with partner agencies in order that we can collectively protect our communities.’ This, I think, is a long way from saying ‘we’re worried that locals might riot if they believe we’re potentially housing child-rapists in their towns.’
Yet again, the regime seems to believe that lying is preferable to keeping its people safe. In the same way it’s promising to fast-track asylum applications, and move people out of hotels into private accommodation, presumably believing that hiding the influx will make the public forget about the problem.
It doesn’t have to be like this. Even if the government is not yet prepared to end the asylum system and withdraw from the Refugee Convention, it still does not need to place these people in our towns and cities. This week, the so-called ‘one-in, one-out scheme’ has commenced, with illegal arrivals who are to be returned to France being held at detention centres. The government could choose to treat all asylum seekers in the same way. We must conclude that it does not wish to.
This choice is a direct cause of the crimes committed by asylum seekers. Officials and ministers must know that they are in part responsible for every rape and sexual assault, and every violent crime committed by those who are placed in communities across the country as a result of their choices. Migration and asylum seekers are not like the weather, or the tides. They are choices, and at the moment the UK is choosing to draw more migrants here.
Unlike Austria, Germany and France, the UK is seeing asylum applications rising, up 17 per cent from 2023 to 2024. This is likely driven by our very high acceptance rates. Around half of all asylum applications are approved at the first attempt, with more approved on appeal. For those who pay thousands of pounds to cross the Channel on illegal boats, the approval rate is even higher, with 68 per cent approved at the first attempt.
Of course, even those whose asylum applications are rejected will often continue living in the UK. Unlike Germany, which is deporting Afghans, and has seen a 30 per cent drop in asylum applications, the UK finds the thought of making a deal with the Taliban impossible, and so any Afghans who reach our shores will stay.
As a result of all these choices, waves of crime and fear will continue to wash through English towns. It’s not surprising that Brits have had enough, with nearly half of Britons wanting to end immigration and deport recent arrivals (known as ‘remigration’). Migration now is the most important issue for 30 per cent of voters. The party which recognises this, and embraces both ending the asylum system and remigration, will find its support soaring.
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