23 May 2008
Up to 1,500 extra immigration detention centre places are to be created under Home Office proposals, prompting early local opposition.
The plans, announced on May 19, will provide 60% more detention centre places for the UK Border Agency. Locations being considered include Bicester in Oxfordshire and an expansion of the Yarl's Wood centre near Bedford.
Plans will be presented to local authorities in the coming months, with a decision dependent on the planning process, the Home Office said.
The expansion of the Border Agency detention estate is part of government efforts to increase removal of illegal immigrants. Border and immigration minister Liam Byrne said: 'We have increased illegal working operations by 40% and last year we deported 80% more foreign criminals. Even though asylum claims are at a 14-year low, we are removing more failed asylum seekers each year. That means we need more detention space.'
The Yarl's Wood proposals might prove to be the most controversial. Alistair Burt, Conservative MP for North East Bedfordshire, said he was disappointed about the plans. He supported the policy of returning failed asylum seekers and foreign prisoners but detention centres should be shared out around the country.
And local councillor Nigel Sparrow said there was huge local opposition to the plans, with security cited as the biggest issue.
In 2002, there was a devastating fire at an earlier Yarl's Wood facility. This was replaced with a women and family centre.
The proposed new spaces would be for former foreign national prisoners, failed asylum seekers and immigration offenders.
The Refugee Council said detention of asylum seekers should always be a last resort.
Chief executive Donna Covey said: 'The new procedures of the general asylum system should be perfectly capable of processing claims within the government's overall timescale. Locking up people who have done nothing wrong is costly and unnecessary.'
PFmay2008
