It has emerged that people are not being told about migrant hotels in their community in order to protect the privacy of asylum seekers. According to the Home Office, there are currently 32,345 asylum seekers being put up in hotels with a further 66,683 in houses and flats.
However, the location of many of the 220 hotels, which are paid for by the British taxpayer, is reportedly being kept quiet. Newcastle City Council said it and the Home Office were not allowed to inform locals of migrant hotels on privacy grounds. The council explained: “We would not share a resident’s personal information with other residents, unless we had specific legal reasons to do so.”
A spokesman for Tower Hamlets Council, in London, added: “We do not announce when asylum seeker hotels are set up in the borough.”
It comes after crowds surrounded asylum seekers’ accommodation last year. Some even threatened to burn them down after three girls were murdered in Southport.
As reported by the Daily Mail, it was revealed that 312 asylum seekers, across 70 hotels, had been charged with 70 criminal offences, including rape. Meanwhile, the Thistle City Barbican, a hotel in central London, saw 41 residents charged with 90 offences over three years.
A former manager of a hotel in the North West claimed that he caught one migrant with a woman as they filmed a pornographic video in his room. The incident took place in Blackpool last summer and involved a Syrian man and a female migrant.
The manager said: “The guy had a whole set-up, a camera on a tripod at the end of the bed, sex toys everywhere. The couple were running an illegal porn business from the hotel. He told us he was filming it to put on OnlyFans.”
The Government said Serco, Clearsprings and Mears – the three firms it pays billions to house migrants, have made around £383 million in profit since 2019.
The Home Office said: “While most people comply with the rules, our contractors must maintain order and immediately report any issues. Cases of illegal working, including online, antisocial behaviour, or safeguarding breaches can lead to support being cut.”
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “These hotels full of illegal immigrants are dens of illegal working, criminality and now we learn depravity as well.”
He added: “This is all being overseen by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper – using billions of pounds of our hard-earned money.”
