British charities and officials are warning of worsening conditions at a migrant processing center in England and urging Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to act.
Conditions at the Manston asylum processing center were “a violation of human conditions”, British Conservative MP Roger Gale said on Monday, as dozens of charities wrote to the prime minister to raise concerns about “overcrowding”.
The Manston immigration center in Kent, southeast England, is currently housing around 4,000 people, including women and children, even though it is only intended to house 1,500, local MP Gale told Sky News.
“This is completely unacceptable,” said Gale, who visited the former RAF base last week, although he added that staff were “trying to do a good job under impossible conditions”.
It comes as dozens of charities signed an open letter from the charity Positive Action in Housing to Sunak, raising concerns about what they called “overcrowding and inhumane conditions” in the Manston centre.
“We take the safety and well-being of those in our care very seriously and are working closely with our healthcare professionals and the UK Health Security Agency to ensure their well-being,” the Home Office told CNN.
The Home Office also confirmed that it was aware of a very small number of diphtheria cases reported at the Manston centre: “The Home Office provides health facilities at Manston 24/7, including trained medical staff and a doctor.”
On Sunday, around 700 people crossing the Channel in small boats were taken to Manston after “incendiary devices” were thrown at an immigration center in Dover, local police confirmed.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, who visited Manston on Sunday, acknowledged the “enormous pressure” on the center in a tweet.
“More than 1,000 migrants crossing the English Channel yesterday are creating huge pressure. I was hugely impressed with the staff I met, handling this unbearable situation,” Jenrick said on Sunday.
The warnings come as criticism continues over the reappointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary. Braverman is known for her tough stance on immigration.
More than a hundred refugee charities wrote an open letter to Braverman on Monday, calling on her to tackle what they called “backlogs of asylum cases” and create safe routes for refugees to travel to Britain.
The letter referred to comments Braverman made during the Conservative Party conference earlier in October, in which she said it would be a “dream” and an “obsession” to see a Telegraph newspaper front page showing a migrant plane taking off in Rwanda . , where some asylum seekers in the UK could be relocated under a controversial scheme.
“You referred to this country’s proud history of providing refuge. So we ask you to make it happen with a fair, kind and efficient system for refugees,” the letter reads.
