Enforced removals of asylum seekers whose applications have been refused must be carried out more rapidly and humanely, a Commons inquiry has said.
A report by the Home Affairs select committee, published yesterday, makes a number of proposals for improving the process.

This would ease the burden on housing associations such as Safe Haven, which last month refused to evict 300 tenants whose asylum applications had failed because it feared they would become homeless (HT 4 April, page 7).

The select committee recognised that removals could be delayed by a lack of proper travel documents, but welcomed recent moves by the Immigration Service to tackle this.

It recommended the negotiation of readmission agreements with countries currently reluctant to accept returned refugees.

Chris Mullin, chairman of the committee, said: "We want to see applications for asylum processed as quickly, efficiently and fairly as possible and the removal of those whose applications fail.

"However, we should never lose sight of the fact that, whether we are dealing with genuine asylum seekers or economic migrants, we are dealing with human beings."

Source

Housing Today