The legislator denounces the overcrowding of immigrants in the United Kingdom

In a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel after visiting a refugee reception center in Kent, southern England, Cooper wrote that the facility where refugees await processing and resettlement is wholly unsuitable.

The MP, who chairs the Commons Home Affairs Committee, revealed there were 56 people in the small waiting room, including women, children and teenagers.

We were told that the maximum length of time someone could be kept in that room was 24 hours, but in recent days the periods have been extended to 36 and 48 hours, Cooper added, after warning that there was a high risk of an outbreak. of Covid-19 among immigrants.

In this regard, he warned that the place lacks ventilation, and refugees who do not wear masks, cannot stay away from the distance.

The lawmaker from the opposition Labor Party reminded Patel that the chief prison inspector visited the reception center last September, and found the conditions unacceptable.

British immigration authorities have also come under heavy criticism by human rights organizations for using former military barracks in Kent to house people arriving in the country illegally.

According to unofficial data, more than 8,000 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year, after venturing across the English Channel in fragile boats mostly run by smugglers.

In an effort to stop the avalanche, the British government agreed to pay nearly 55 million pounds (about $74 million) to French police to double their patrol on that country’s northern coast and install more monitoring equipment.

The UK’s conservative authorities have also submitted a bill to Parliament that seeks to tighten immigration laws and even allow them to send refugees to processing centers located in third countries.

A government spokesperson said the asylum system is being exploited by criminal gangs, but the Citizenship and Borders bill would amend it to stop such dangerous and illegal crossings.

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