‘Cruel’ asylum bill could criminalise those fleeing war, Leeds campaigners claim

According to the Government’s Nationality and Borders Bill, which is currently at the committee stage of Parliament, someone commits an offence if they “attempt to enter the UK illegally”, and the penalty for illegal entry could be raised to four years’ imprisonment.

The Government says the bill would fix the UK’s “broken” asylum system, and would instead target human traffickers.

But campaigners say the planned law would create a “two-tier asylum system” where those forced to take unusual routes to safety could be refused help or even criminalised.

Bahar fled Afghanistan in 1996, and came to the UK in the back of a lorry while heavily pregnant, after members of her family were murdered by the Taliban.

After being granted asylum, Bahar settled in Leeds, where she learned English and tried to recover from the trauma she had experienced as a child. She set up the Bahar Women’s Association to support her fellow refugees.

But she remains fearful for her sister, who served as an Afghan policewoman, and is now in hiding from the Taliban.

Bahar, who chooses not to use her surname for security reasons, said: “Right now, my sister in Afghanistan is hiding and we can’t talk. She has no passport because her papers were at the embassy and then everything happened. All she’s left with is her national ID card.

“Many, many families wanted to escape before the Taliban came to Kabul – everyone was applying for visas to go to India, Pakistan, or Iran. All of a sudden, the Taliban arrived and nobody had a chance to get their documentation. They couldn’t even go to the bank.

“Someone who worked with the UK might have been flown out legally, but their brother, who worked for the Afghan government, and whose life might also be in danger, could be treated as ‘illegal’ under this new law. Every workplace needs to have a policy on diversity and equality, and a policy on health and safety, but what about human rights?

“What’s the point of having these policies if they don’t follow it when it comes to asylum-seekers?”

The bill was introduced by Home Secretary Priti Patel back in July and would, the Government claims, introduce “tougher criminal offences” for those who enter the UK illegally.

It would also give the Government powers to “remove people including criminals” to a “safe third country”, while declaring asylum-seekers as “inadmissible” if they arrive from a country where it is felt they could have claimed asylum.

Mariam Kemple Hardy, head of campaigns at charity Refugee Action, said: “Priti Patel’s extreme anti-refugee bill means Afghan families forced to flee Taliban terror will be criminalised or abandoned by the Government simply because of how they arrived here.

“Ministers must tear up this cruel, unworkable and unlawful bill and create a refugee protection system that is just and compassionate and designed to keep people safe, not keep people out.”

A Government spokesperson said: “The UK has a proud history of welcoming those in need, such as thousands of Afghans who are being supported to rebuild their lives through our settlement schemes.

“But we have to take action to break the business model of the people-smugglers putting lives at risk and fix our broken asylum system. Our New Plan for Immigration is based on a simple principle: that the right to access to our asylum system should be based on need not the ability to pay people smugglers who exploit and endanger people’s lives.

“Our Nationality & Borders Bill will change the law so those who facilitate these dangerous crossings can face life behind bars.”

Protests are taking place this week against the bill, which is set to pass through the Commons and House of Lords.

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