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The Minister of State for Immigration has vowed to ‘swiftly’ deport offenders who sparked a ‘riot’ at a migrant detention centre near Heathrow Airport last night.
Robert Jenrick promised that the ‘perpetrators of this disturbance will be held to account’, after more than 100 detainees armed with knives and various other weapons reportedly left their rooms during a power cut and broke into the courtyard during the early hours of this morning.
Riot police descended on the scene at Harmondsworth Immigration Detention Centre in West Drayton, Middlesex, where people were reportedly armed with knives and pieces of wood.
Harmondsworth, a male-only centre, has been without power or water since yesterday, it is reported, in the latest sign of poor conditions at the UK’s asylum and immigration centres.
Mr Jenrick confirmed that none of the staff, nor the detainees, were injured during the disturbance.
The Conservative MP said in a statement: ‘There was disruption overnight at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre after a loss of power. Thankfully no staff working or individuals detained there were hurt, despite clear evidence of unacceptable levels of violence and disorder.
‘The priority now is to move people to other centres while engineers fix the power fault and repair any damage.
‘The public should be reassured that offenders and others waiting removal from the UK are being held securely. The perpetrators of this disturbance will be held to account and, where appropriate, removed from the country as swiftly as is practicable.
‘The Home Secretary and I have been kept abreast of events throughout the night and today by our hard-working teams. I have also visited the site today and I expect the centre to be empty by the end of the day.
‘I am grateful to Home Office staff, contractors and officers from HMPPS and the Metropolitan police for their professionalism and practical support.’
The Met Police were initially called to the scene at 7.45pm on Friday. Officers from the National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) and Met’s Territorial Support Police, as well as fire and rescue workers were also called to the site.
It comes amid growing scrutiny over conditions at British immigration centres after it was reported the Manston site in Dover was massively overcrowded and people were being forced to sleep on the floor.
The number of people coming to the UK on small boats has spiked this year, with 40,000 having made the life-threatening journey so far.
Police and specialist officers were seen outside the detention centre preparing to enter with riot gear including shields
Minister for Immigration Robert Jenrick (pictured) promised that the ‘perpetrators of this disturbance will be held to account’
Images from the scene show multiple police officers outside the centre along with police vans and what appears to be riot gear
The Metropolitan Police were called to the scene at 7.45pm last night and sent along Territorial Support officers
One of the jobs of NTRG officers is to help manage outbreaks of violence or rioting at the UK’s prisons
Highly trained specialist officers arrived at the scene on Saturday morning as the incident remains ongoing
Home Secretary Suella Braverman (right) is coming under increasing pressure to fix horrific conditions at migrant centres around the UK
The incident is said to have peaked at around 2am on Saturday and lasted for several hours. None of the staff, nor detainees, were injured.
Images from the scene show multiple police officers outside the centre along with police vans and what appears to be riot gear.
The Met said in a statement this morning: ‘Police officers have been providing support to staff dealing with a disturbance at the Harmondsworth immigration removal centre.
‘Met officers attended the location at approximately 19:45hrs on Friday, 4 November.
‘Officers remain at the location.’
A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘There has been a power outage at Harmondsworth immigration removal centre, and work is currently underway to resolve this issue.
‘We are aware of a disturbance at the centre and the appropriate authorities have been notified and are on scene.
‘The welfare and safety of staff and individuals detained at Harmondsworth is our key priority.’
MailOnline understands that a group of detainees left their rooms and went out into the courtyard area armed with what was described as ‘various weaponry’.
It is understood that the power remained off as of 9am this morning and none of the detainees left the site.
All those detained at the site are now being moved to other centres while engineers deal with the power fault.
Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre in West Drayton, Middlesex, houses only males and can hold around 670 detainees.
Among those at the site are thought to be vulnerable men seeking asylum, foreign convicts awaiting deportation and others who have been ruled to be in the UK illegally.
In March, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons said of Harmondsworth that many detainees had ‘complex needs’ and that the ‘lengthy detention of people with substantial vulnerabilities who had, in some cases, been declared unfit for detention, was also a serious concern’.
It added that detainees had been held for very lengthy periods due to ‘systemic problems with the provision of suitable release accommodation’.
The report found: ‘Eight people had been in detention for over a year and 26 for more than six months.
‘Yet the majority (58 percent) were simply released after a potentially damaging period of detention.’
It is unclear if anyone has been injured of what damage has been caused, as the incident is said to be still unresolved
The detainees are said to have broken into Harmondsworth’s courtyard (pictured) during the power outage (stock image)
Some of those who arrive in the UK in Dover are later transported to other centres around the country such as Harmondsworth
The chief inspector of prisons also reported filthy cell toilets, problems with pests and dilapidated communal showers.
Harmondsworth is operated by the private firm Mitie Care and Custody on behalf of the Home Office.
The ‘disturbance’ comes at the end of a week which has seen the government come under huge pressure over asylum seekers and migrants, after Home Secretary Suella Braverman told the House of Commons that the UK’s asylum system is ‘broken’.
Earlier this week a child ran to the fence at the edge of the Manston centre and handed a note in a bottle to a photographer.
The note described harrowing conditions with dozens kept at the centre for at least a month – instead of the 24 hours it was designed for.
It claimed there were pregnant women and sick detainees inside, and that a disabled child was not being cared for.
The letter, written in broken English, said: ‘We are in a difficult life now… we fill like we’re in prison (sic).’
Witnesses said they saw security guards at the site ushering detainees back inside when members of the press were walking by the fence.
The young girl was among a group of children who broke past security guards and ran over to the fence to throw the bottle to the photographer.
It said: ‘Some of us very sick… ther’s some women’s that are pregnant they don’t do anything for them (sic)… We really need your help. Please help us.
‘It’s not easy for someone who has children… There’s a lot of children they shouldn’t be here. They should be in a school not prison.’
The letter added: ‘We wanna talk to you but they don’t even let us go outside.’
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More than 1,200 people had left the centre by Friday morning as Home Office staff scrambled to frantically book hotels for those detained at the centre in a bid to shift attention away from the poor conditions.
No10 said the number of people at Manston in Kent had fallen to 2,600, with 1,200 people taken off site in the last four days.
Its capacity should be 1,600 who stay for around 24 hours before being found further accommodation. But as many as 4,000 have been kept there in recent weeks.
On October 30th a man drove more than 100 miles to the centre before throwing three improvised petrol bombs at its gates and killing himself at a nearby petrol station.
Police confirmed today he was driven by ‘extreme right-wing’ terrorist ideology. A series of anti-immigrant and right-wing posts were later found on his social media accounts.
Following the incident, campaigners held a vigil and protest outside the centre in support of those seeking asylum in the UK.
It also emerged this week a group of asylum seekers had been bussed to Victoria Station in London and simply abandoned there, with no warm clothing, food or money.
Although the majority of those on the coach had friends or family in London they could stay with, a small group did not and were left in the cold with no idea where they were.
Westminster City Council leader Adam Hug today confirmed the council’s rough sleeping service is looking after a number of asylum seekers from Manston who arrived at in central London with nowhere to go.
‘The chaos that is engulfing the arrival centre at Manston is now impacting on councils across the country. It is not acceptable that people seeking asylum in the UK are effectively dumped at a coach station and left to fend for themselves, we need a more humane and frankly better organised response,’ he said.
‘We are happy do our share to look after asylum seekers – we have plenty of hotels in Westminster, that is not the issue. What is the issue is that the Home Office seems to have descended into panic with no clear picture of where people are going.’
But a senior minister criticised migrants – who were the target of a suspected far-right petrol bomb attack this week – for complaining about conditions.
Home Office minister Chris Philp said told Sky that Manston was legally compliant days after immigration minister Robert Jenrick suggested it was not.
And he later told Times Radio: ‘If people choose to enter a country illegally, and unnecessarily … it’s a bit of a cheek to then start complaining about the conditions.
‘And you don’t even have to come here, they were in France already and previously often passed through Belgium, Germany, and many other countries on the way.’
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the challenge of migrants entering the UK via the English Channel as ‘serious and unprecedented’ in an interview with the Times on Saturday.
‘There’s no easy overnight fix to that challenge,’ he said.
More than 1,200 migrants have left Manston in days as Home Office looks to expand crisis-hit immigration centre amid complaints hundreds are leaving ‘without basic checks’
By David Wilcock
More than 1,200 people have left a massively overcrowded migrant center in the past four days, Downing Street said today as ministers faced heavy pressure to get a grip on the crisis.
Political anger was mounting at the debacle amid a slew of further revelations about migrants being allowed to leave Manston with barely any checks on their destination and others being abandoned on the street in London.
A minister also sparked a row when he accused those crossing the Channel in small boats of having ‘a bit of a cheek’ for complaining about conditions they faced after getting here illegally.
Today No10 said the number of people at Manston in Kent had fallen to 2,600, with 1,200 people taken off site in the last four days.
Its capacity should be 1,600 who stay for around 24 hours before being found further accommodation. But as many as 4,000 have been kept there in recent weeks.
Hundreds of people have been encouraged to leave Manston in northern Kent after simply providing a forwarding address, the Telegraph reported today.
And last night it was revealed a second group of migrants was dumped in London this week and forced to sleep rough on the streets of the capital.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘My understanding is there are currently 2,600 people on the site, so over 1,200 people have been removed over the last four days.’
Asked if he expects this to drop to 1,600 over the next four days, he said: ‘I’d defer to Home Office if they’re putting a particular timescale on it.
‘Obviously that does depend slightly on some of the variables such as the level of crossings we see.’
He also said that he Home Office was looking at ways to increase capacity at the site near Ramsgate.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick visited homes in Dover with local MP Natalie Elphicke today.
As the pair walked along the road, a local resident, Thomas Dougan, 48, who lives in Aycliffe, shouted: ‘Are you Government? What a waste of space.
‘Are you the loony party? They’d do better than you or Green Party.’
Braverman, who was reinstated to her ministerial post just over a week ago, met Border Force teams in Dover to discuss Channel crossings operations before visiting the scandal-hit Manston processing centre via RAF helicopter to hear updates from staff.
Ministers face calls to get a grip as it emerged that people who crossed the Channel in small boats were being allowed to leave an arrival center without undergoing basic checks, to ease overcrowding.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick has visited homes in Dover with local MP Natalie Elphicke
Hundreds of people have been encouraged to leave Manston in northern Kent after simply providing a forwarding address, the Telegraph reported today.
The Home Secretary toured immigration centres yesterday while battling to grip the migrant crisis amid threats of legal action, sexual assault allegations at a hotel housing asylum seekers and international criticism of her use of language.
The Home Secretary toured immigration centres yesterday while battling to grip the migrant crisis amid threats of legal action, sexual assault allegations at a hotel housing asylum seekers and international criticism of her use of language.
Westminster City Council leader Adam Hug today confirmed the council’s rough sleeping service is looking after a number of asylum seekers from Manston who arrived at in central London with nowhere to go.
‘The chaos that is engulfing the arrival centre at Manston is now impacting on councils across the country. It is not acceptable that people seeking asylum in the UK are effectively dumped at a coach station and left to fend for themselves, we need a more humane and frankly better organised response,’ he said.
‘We are happy do our share to look after asylum seekers – we have plenty of hotels in Westminster, that is not the issue. What is the issue is that the Home Office seems to have descended into panic with no clear picture of where people are going.’
But a senior minister criticised migrants – who were the target of a suspected far-right petrol bomb attack this week – for complaining about conditions.
Home Office minister Chris Philp said told Sky that Manston was legally compliant days after immigration minister Robert Jenrick suggested it was not.
And he later told Times Radio: ‘If people choose to enter a country illegally, and unnecessarily … it’s a bit of a cheek to then start complaining about the conditions.
‘And you don’t even have to come here, they were in France already and previously often passed through Belgium, Germany, and many other countries on the way.’
Home Office minister Chris Philp said told Sky that Manston was legally compliant days after immigration minister Robert Jenrick suggested it was not. And he later told Times Radio: ‘If people choose to enter a country illegally, and unnecessarily … it’s a bit of a cheek to then start complaining about the conditions.’
He added that the groups of migrants from Manston left stranded in London had told immigration officials they had addresses to go to and suggested something may have been ‘lost in translation’.
Some 14 council leaders in Kent have written to Home Secretary Suella Braverman, saying: ‘We have hundreds of mostly Albanian [migrants] not claiming asylum and being bailed and dropped at mid-Kent train stations with no follow-up where they go or if they leave Kent.’
Meanwhile ministers are also facing pushback from locals in Kent who are at the forefront of the arrival of more than 40,000 people in small boats this year.
Ashford MP Damian Green, a Tory former minister and the MP for Ashford, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Kent itself is really under strain because it is not just all the points of accommodation, it’s the fact that you need to find school places for these children.
‘There are (local) children in Kent being told there are no school places around town. This is completely unacceptable, we have to spread the burden around the country and we have to make the whole system faster and more efficient.
‘If we don’t do that this will become a long-running problem which will really affect people in their daily lives.’
Westminster City Council leader Adam Hug today confirmed the council’s rough sleeping service is looking after a number of asylum seekers from Manston who arrived at in central London with nowhere to go.
![Some 14 council leaders in Kent have written to Home Secretary Suella Braverman, saying: 'We have hundreds of mostly Albanian [migrants] not claiming asylum and being bailed and dropped at mid-Kent train stations with no follow-up where they go or if they leave Kent.'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/11/05/11/64193411-11393125-Some_14_council_leaders_in_Kent_have_written_to_Home_Secretary_S-a-60_1667649132869.jpg)
Some 14 council leaders in Kent have written to Home Secretary Suella Braverman, saying: ‘We have hundreds of mostly Albanian [migrants] not claiming asylum and being bailed and dropped at mid-Kent train stations with no follow-up where they go or if they leave Kent.’
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: ‘Chris Philp’s comments reveal a shocking and callous complacency over the disaster unfolding at Manston. It is unbelievable that as we hear reports of sexual assualts, disease, and chronic overcrowding, his response is to accuse those who complain of ”cheek”.
‘Rather than dismissing the problem he should start to show some leadership. People have had enough of the endless evasion, chaos and incompetence we have seen from the government on this issue.’
The Home Secretary toured immigration centres yesterday while battling to grip the migrant crisis amid threats of legal action, sexual assault allegations at a hotel housing asylum seekers and international criticism of her use of language.
Braverman, who was reinstated to her ministerial post just over a week ago, met Border Force teams in Dover to discuss Channel crossings operations before visiting the scandal-hit Manston processing centre to hear updates from staff.
She has come under mounting political pressure over the illegal conditions at the site near Ramsgate, where at one point as many as 4,000 people were being detained for weeks in a site intended to hold 1,600 for a matter of days.
Downing Street said the number has since reduced to 2,700, after more than 1,000 were moved in the last few days, and that the Prime Minister was receiving twice daily updates on the situation.
Mr Philp added that the UK is a ‘generous country’ in accommodating asylum seekers.
He said: ‘We’re spending something like two or three billion pounds a year looking after people who have entered the country illegally and unnecessarily. I think, frankly, that is pretty generous, actually … our asylum accommodation is better than most European countries.
‘In terms of people who are genuinely in need of protection, we are a generous country … this is a very generous country that looks after people in genuine need.’
Stephen Evans, chief executive of Norwich Council, has said the Home Office did not give its local officials any warning that migrants from Manston were being bussed into the city on Thursday.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, Mr Evans said he first read about the group coming to Norwich in a news article.
‘We hadn’t been told. I checked back with colleagues at City Hall – they hadn’t been told. So, we don’t know who they are and we don’t know where they’ve gone to in the city,’ he said.
‘I think that’s part of the problem here. As a sector, councils are asking for early engagement from the Home Office and for us to be consulted.’
He added that ‘of course’ councils need to know where migrants are in terms of safety and safeguarding, and often the Home Office usually give local leaders just a few days’ notice when it comes to opening a hotel for migrants in their area.
‘If the Government engaged councils earlier in the process, we could be on the front foot and it would be a better system for sure,’ he said.
