Children 'in facilities worse than terror suspects in Afghanistan' - ex-watchdog
Child migrants were forced to stay in facilities even worse than those used for terror suspects during the Afghanistan War, the former borders inspector has claimed.
David Neal, who was last month sacked as Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, said he was "appalled" by the conditions he saw. He branded the Home Office "dysfunctional" and said it urgently needs reform.
Mr Neal, who was fired after claiming proper checks weren't carried out on 'high risk' private jets arriving in the UK, said he had raised the alarm about conditions child migrants were kept in. The former inspector previously led the Royal Military Police and was responsible for investigating terror suspects.
Asked if the conditions at the migrant facility at Manston in Kent was worse that detention centres in Afghanistan, he told the BBC ’s Today podcast: “I think it would be fair to say.” He added: “When I saw children housed in the children's holding facility called the Kent Intake Unit down at Dover docks… I was that appalled by the conditions that I saw, I’d written to the Home Secretary to say that these were worse than the conditions that I saw in Afghanistan.”
Former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick sparked fury last summer when he ordered murals at the centre were painted over to make them less welcoming to children.
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Mr Neal said Manston had been "overwhelmed" and said people were sleeping in heated tents, stating: "This was like a sort of refugee situation that you see overseas." He blamed a "creeping lack of ambition" at the Home Office for failure to provide proper facilities.
Mr Neal said he had "paid the price" for speaking up, and said the public would be shocked by some of the things he'd seen. He said: "The Home Office is dysfunctional, the Home Office needs reform." In a scathing assessment of the Border Force he said: "I've met people in the Border Force who've been there for 35 years and have never been on a proper course to train them in stuff. It's absolutely shocking.
"The public would expect there to be a proper force protecting the border. I'm not sure it's anywhere near as effective as it could be." Mr Neal said scrutiny of the UK's border security would be worse off with no one in his former post.
He was sacked by Home Secretary James Cleverly after he went public with claims high risk private jets were arriving in the UK without proper checks. He branded it a scandal but the Government said it "categorically rejects" the findings.
Labour branded it "total Tory chaos" on borders. A Home Office spokesman said: "It is the job of the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration to identify challenges in our system, including those proposed by Border Force, so we can take action to address them.
"But by their nature, each of the ICIBI reports will only be a snapshot of what is going on and will not reflect the changes we make as a result of their findings. A programme of work is already well under way to reform and strengthen Border Force's capabilities.
"This is delivering on the Prime Minister's pledge to make our structures and resources as strong as possible. The work the Home Office, Border Force and the NCA is doing with international partners to stop the boats is another part of our Border Force reform, and is already having a return with small boat arrivals down by a third when Mr Neal was sacked for leaking sensitive information he was told was inaccurate."
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