Three-quarters of small boat arrivals would be granted asylum, study suggests

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The study by the Refugee Council also found that once the Illegal Migration Act is fully enforced, as few as 3.5% of people arriving would be returned to their home countries every year, while thousands of remaining migrants would be left in limbo and could “disappear” into destitution on the margins of society. When the Government’s breakdown of the nationality of those arriving on small boats up to September this year is assessed alongside current rates of asylum approval for people from individual countries, this suggests 74% of those who have crossed the Channel this year – or 14,648 people – would be granted asylum if their applications were processed. The Refugee Council estimates that if the profile of nationalities arriving on small boats remains similar when the Illegal Migration Act is fully enforced, only 3.5% of arrivals each year would be able to be removed from the UK to their country of origin. Closing down the asylum system will simply result in vast cost, chaos and human misery with tens of thousands of people stuck in permanent limbo, likely to disappear into the margins of our communities, at risk of destitution, exploitation and abuse Enver Soloman, Refugee Council Even with a third country agreement involving 10,000 arrivals a year being transferred from the UK, tens of thousands of people from nations with current high rates of asylum approval would fall foul of the “shutting down asylum decision making” caused by the new legislation, the report said.