The Home Office has argued that asylum seekers are “okay” to be sent to Rwanda, even after they threatened to kill themselves in custody while awaiting extradition to Africa, according to internal documents accessed by the Observer.
They reveal that Home Office officials described how a person held in immigration detention ‘is fine to go there [Rwanda]” days after he had threatened to kill himself amid fears he would never see his children again.
After the Home Office said the Afghan detainee was fine to be sent 4,500 miles to East Africa, he tried to kill himself twice; once by drinking shampoo and once by hanging himself. Last week he told volunteers he planned to jump from the third floor of Heathrow’s Colnbrook immigration removal centre.
Claire Moseley, founder of the charity Care4Calais, which has looked after 125 asylum seekers who were told they would be deported to Rwanda, accused the Home Office of creating an alternate reality to suit its “brutal” agenda .
She said: “It is deeply shocking that the Home Office is saying that someone who is suffering extreme mental distress because of fear for their future and that of their children is okay to be forcibly transferred to Rwanda when the extent of their suffering is so clearly demonstrates the opposite. The Ministry of Internal Affairs denies the reality.
Priti Patel’s policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda has been described by critics as “absolutely shameful” and one of the most damaging in recent Conservative Party history. However, all Tory leadership candidates have pledged to maintain the policy in a bid to appeal to party members who opinion polls show support.
On Saturday, activists gathered outside Heathrow’s two immigration centers – Colnbrook and Harmondsworth – to demand a halt to flights to Rwanda, with further demonstrations reported in Brighton, Cardiff and Manchester.
Last week, activists blocked a road leading from the immigration removal center in Colnbrook as they protested plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. Photo: Henry Nicholls/Reuters
Documents completed by detention staff at Colnbrook revealed that on June 20, a man who was being held pending extradition to Rwanda “made threats to kill himself” after asking to see a doctor. The next day, documents show the man appears to have been moved to an isolation ward of the type criticized by studies for making detainees feel like they were being unfairly punished.
“[Detainee] stated that he did not care why he was in custody or CSU [care and separation unit]he only cares about his mental health and his children,” said an assessment by prison officials.
However, the Home Office’s reading of the situation describes a father who is fully prepared to be sent to Rwanda, despite his fears that he may never again see his two children, who are currently in Germany with his wife.
In a section titled “Home Office Comments,” a Colnbrook document reads: “DET [detention engagement team] an official informed him that he had been served his papers and was to be transferred to Rwanda. It was fine for him to go there or to Afghanistan as long as we helped him with his mental problems.”
Days earlier, on June 14, the first flight due to take asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda was canceled minutes before take-off following a late intervention by the European Court of Human Rights.
Undeterred, Patel told MPs that the government had committed to sending asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda and that plans for future flights had begun.
Moseley said her charity had received complaints that detainees who received removal notices to Rwanda claimed they did not have access to adequate medical care.
She said one suffered a skin rash so bad they could not sleep and no one else in the detention center would sit next to them, but claimed they did not receive proper treatment.
Last week, preparations for a second migrant flight to Rwanda were put on hold until the Tories elect a new prime minister.
The High Court also delayed until September a hearing of a crucial judicial review of the policy, scheduled for this Tuesday, with Downing Street admitting it would cause too much controversy during the leadership race.
The delay means the Home Office is likely to release dozens of asylum seekers who are being held pending removal to Rwanda, as people can only be detained if there is a “reasonable” prospect of their immediate removal.
So far, 46 people have been released from custody, and another 79 are still being held, according to Moseley.
A Home Office spokesman said: “No one will be moved [to Rwanda] if it is inappropriate or dangerous for them. We take the wellbeing and safety of the people in our care extremely seriously and have specialist social care teams at all sites who can escalate any cases of mental health or illness.
“Robust safeguards are also in place to ensure that everyone in our care, including vulnerable people, is treated with dignity and has access to the support they need.”
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