Home Office says no change to Scottish asylum raids
The use of dawn raids to forcibly remove failed asylum seekers from their homes will continue in Scotland, the immigration minister has said.
Tony McNulty was speaking following talks with the Scottish executive yesterday, after concerns were raised in the Scottish parliament about the controversial treatment of asylum seekers – including the use of handcuffs on asylum seekers’ children.
Pressed by MSPs yesterday, first minister Jack McConnell had said he would be seeking assurances from the Home Office that the system would be improved.
“We are now on the verge of securing improvements to the [asylum removals] system across the whole UK,” he said.
“The position is crystal clear – there has to be a system. That system will involve deportations, but where they happen in Scotland we want them to happen humanely and that is what is going to happen.”
But it now appears there will be not fundamental changes to the way dawn raids are carried out, with Mr McNulty insisting they are a vital part of the removals process.
Last night, he told Newsnight Scotland: “Whether people like it or not, enforced removals, where voluntary removals fail, [are necessary] and I’d be far happier to say that there were no enforced removals whatsoever, [but] in that context enforced removals are part of the asylum system.”
He went on: “What these detractors don’t say is what’s the alternative? An entire free for all? Totally undermining the 1951 convention and all that asylum refugee status means in this country? What’s the alternative?
“Many of the voices in parliament I think were playing politics far more readily than any interest in children.”
Mr McNulty said there may be room for improvement in some areas – including the involvement of social workers throughout the removals process – but ruled out any changes to the way officers carry out dawn raids, including the use of body armour and handcuffs.
But his comments were criticised by Scotland’s children’s commissioner, Kathleen Marshall, who told the same programme: “All of these things are terribly worrying. I don’t think we can be a civilised society if we allow it to happen.”
She added: “I don’t see how you can discuss the welfare of children in this context without talking about the timing of the removals, the number of people, the handcuffing of parents in front of their children [and] strangers waking children up in their beds.”
