The Home Secretary has defended using Crowborough training camp to house asylum seekers, and revealed why migrants were moved in under the cover of darkness.
About 27 men have been housed at the camp, where the Home Office plans to accommodate up to 500 men as it bids to end the use of asylum hotels.
The move has sparked opposition from neighbours of the camp and the local authority, Wealden District Council, has said it is considering legal action.
The first asylum seekers were moved into the camp in the middle of the night, which Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said was to avoid a “public order risk”.
She told LBC’s Nick Ferrari at Breakfast during Call the Cabinet: “It was just designed to make sure that, of course, that there wasn’t a public order risk and also that we could move people safely and quickly.
“Whenever you move into any new part of an estate, you have to start small and, and it is normal practise to do these things.”
Read more: Thousands gather in Crowborough to protest against migrants living on town’s former army base
Read more: Neighbours of military camp housing migrants feel ‘ignored’ by Home Office
People take part in a protest in Crowborough, East Sussex, after the first 27 illegal migrants were moved into Crowborough Training Camp.
Picture:
Alamy
Local people protest outside this former army barracks at the arrival of first group of asylum seekers.
Picture:
Alamy
Ms Mahmood defended the decision to move asylum seekers into the former army camp, and said as they expand the use of military sites they expect to see similar feelings from local residents.
She said: “I do understand the strength of feeling amongst residents in Crowborough and I know that as we expand the use of military sites, we will see similar issues elsewhere.”
However, she explained that they have to do this “because the policy that we inherited of housing asylum seekers in asylum hotels was the wrong thing”.
She added: “And that has also caused huge strife across communities in the country.”
The first 27 illegal migrants have now moved into Crowborough as part of the government’s mission to end the use of expensive hotels.
Picture:
PA
She told LBC: “I do understand, but we do have to find a solution. I think moving to larger sites, rather than hotels on high streets and rooted in local communities, I think military sites presents a better solution.
“I think it deals with one of the pull factors. We know that organised immigration criminals are advertising the fact that you get a hotel room when you arrive in Britain as one of the ways that they’re luring people into the small boats in the first place.”
She added: “There are no easy answers here and there is no one silver bullet. I wish that there were, that I could implement and make these problems go away overnight. But we will get out of asylum hotels.
“We do need a solution for housing asylum seekers and I do think military sites presents a good solution going forward. Of course, the main job is dealing with the boats, which I’m also trying to do.”