Asylum seeker processing centre at former MoD site in Manston 'reaches full capacity'
Published: 18:40, 23 September 2022
Updated: 19:24, 23 September 2022
A former Ministry of Defence base in Thanet that is used for processing asylum seekers has reportedly reached full capacity.
The former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Manston was repurposed for processing people hoping to claim asylum in the UK and launched earlier this year.
But it has now emerged the site has reached its full capacity, according to GB News.
It comes as the latest figures from the MoD show 21 boats were intercepted yesterday, carrying 1,150 people.
It is the third highest daily figure in 2022 and brings the total to have crossed the English Channel so far this year to 31,665.
Officials have since erected additional tents at Dover harbour to keep asylum seekers covered as they are processed by Border Force officers.
Meanwhile, a Kent MP is seeking a meeting with the new Home Secretary to discuss the ongoing issue of small boats crossing the Channel.
Damian Collins, whose Folkestone and Hythe constituency often sees boats carrying asylum seekers brought ashore, hopes to discuss the controversial topic with Suella Braverman following her appointment at the Home Office.
His request comes as thousands continue to make the perilous sea voyage from the French coast to Kent, despite repeated government promises to crack down on the route.
It is now more than five months since Boris Johnson and former Home Secretary Priti Patel announced plans to send migrants to Rwanda to try to deter people from crossing the Channel.
On April 14, Ms Patel signed what she described as a “world-first” agreement with Rwanda, under which the East African country would receive migrants deemed by the UK to have arrived “illegally” and therefore inadmissible under new immigration rules.
But the first deportation flight - due to take off on June 14 - was grounded amid legal challenges.
Several asylum seekers, the Public and Commercial Services Union and charities Care4Calais, Detention Action and Asylum Aid, are embroiled in court cases with the Home Office as they challenge the legality of the policy.
Since the Rwanda deal was signed, 26,397 people have arrived in the UK on small boats.
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Brad Harper