Khadar Mohamed, who has been living at the controversial Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, is overwhelmed to have won his right to stay in the UK on human rights grounds
A young asylum seeker has today thanked Keir Starmer “from the bottom of his heart” after winning the right to stay in the UK.
Khadar Mohamed, 24, expressed his gratitude to the Labour government, having lived at the controversial Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, and now been allowed to remain in the UK on human rights grounds. The young man, who will now live in Bradford, West Yorkshire, is determined to work and contribute to society.
“I have been told in the last two weeks that I have won my right to stay. I have been granted leave on human rights grounds. I am glad the Government has supported me. I want to thank Keir Starmer from the bottom of my heart,” Khadar said today.
“I believe many, many more of us will also be allowed to stay. Many in the hotel are going through the same situation and I believe they will also win… People need to calm down. We are not bad people.”
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Protests were held outside Bell Hotel during the summer as frustration around migration threatened to boil over. Anti-immigration demonstrators – some wearing hoods, others with face coverings and carrying English flags – gathered to demonstrate.
But, like asylum seekers at a hotel in Oxford, Khadar and the migrants he knows were “living in fear” and have aspirations of working and contributing to society here. Now though, Khadar, from Somalia, believes Brits are “coming around to the fact” asylum seekers are staying. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he added: “I want to work, I want to contribute… Let us stay. I want to work and contribute.”
The “one in, one out” scheme with France, designed to crackdown on boat crossings, came into action this week. The first migrant, an Indian national who arrived in the UK by small boat last month, was returned by plane on Thursday morning. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood hailed the removal as an “important first step”, with further flights expected this week.
An Eritrean man appealed against the decision to deport him, and he faces being deported to France today. At a hearing in London, his barristers said the decision was “procedurally unfair” as he had not been given sufficient opportunity to put forward evidence supporting his claim that he was an “alleged trafficking victim”.
The Home Office, though, opposed the bid to temporarily block the removal, telling the High Court there was “no serious issue to be tried”.
Epping District Council announced it would take its case to shut down the Bell Hotel to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal overturned a temporary High Court injunction which would have forced the 138 asylum seekers there to leave by September 12.