A young asylum seeker has today expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Keir Starmer after securing the right to remain in the UK.
Khadar Mohamed, 24, thanked the Labour government for their support, having resided at the contentious Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, and now been granted permission to stay in the UK on human rights grounds. The young man, who will now reside in Bradford, West Yorkshire, is eager to work and contribute to society.
“I have been told in the last two weeks that I have won my right to stay. I have been granted leave on human rights grounds. I am glad the Government has supported me. I want to thank Keir Starmer from the bottom of my heart,” Khadar stated today as news comes in of a gleeful Shabana Mahmood, who hailed the ruling a second migrant will be deported.
“I believe many, many more of us will also be allowed to stay. Many in the hotel are going through the same situation and I believe they will also win… People need to calm down. We are not bad people.”
During the summer, protests erupted outside the Bell Hotel as tensions around immigration threatened to escalate. Anti-immigration demonstrators – some donning hoods, others with face coverings and waving English flags – assembled to protest, reports the Mirror.
Khadar, an asylum seeker from Somalia living in a hotel in Oxford, has expressed his fear and desire to contribute to society. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: “I want to work, I want to contribute… Let us stay. I want to work and contribute.”
He believes that Brits are gradually accepting the fact that asylum seekers are here to stay.
The “one in, one out” scheme with France, aimed at curbing boat crossings, was implemented this week. The first migrant, an Indian national who arrived in the UK by small boat last month, was returned by plane on Thursday morning.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood praised the removal as an “important first step”, with more flights expected this week.
An Eritrean man is challenging the decision to deport him back to France today. His barristers argued at a hearing in London that the decision was “procedurally unfair” as he had not been given enough opportunity to present evidence supporting his claim of being an “alleged trafficking victim”.
However, the Home Office opposed the attempt to temporarily halt the removal, telling the High Court there was “no serious issue to be tried”.
Epping District Council has announced it will take its case to shut down the Bell Hotel to the Supreme Court. This comes after the Court of Appeal overturned a temporary High Court injunction which would have forced the 138 asylum seekers residing there to leave by 12 September.