Latest news with #asylum
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Trump team ‘greatly concerned' after Labour spies on migrant hotel critics
Donald Trump's administration has said it is 'greatly concerned' after The Telegraph exposed a secretive Whitehall unit that has 'spied ' on migrant hotel critics. The unit has been used by the Government to target social media posts criticising taxpayer-funded asylum hotels and 'two-tier policing'. On Thursday, The Telegraph revealed that officials working for Peter Kyle, the Technology Secretary, have flagged videos with 'concerning narratives' to social media giants including TikTok, warning that they were 'exacerbating tensions' on the streets. Emails recovered by a US congressional committee show thatcivil servants have complained to tech firms about content mentioning asylum seekers, immigration and two-tier policing. The dossier emerged as ministers battle claims that the UK is censoring social media with the Online Safety Act, including from allies of Mr Trump, the US president. Responding to The Telegraph's revelations, a US State Department spokesman said: 'President Trump and Secretary [Marco] Rubio have taken a strong and unequivocal stand defending free speech, and have taken decisive action against foreign nationals who engage in censorship of Americans. 'One of the reasons free speech is so important is that it enables citizens to have accurate information and honest conversations about policy failures of the ruling class – immigration is a prime example of this. We are monitoring free speech developments in the UK closely and with great concern.' Members of the Government's National Security and Online Information Team (NSOIT) complained about a series of posts that were critical of mass migration and asylum hotels in August last year during the Southport riots. The team, based in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, was previously known as the Counter Disinformation Unit and was used during the Covid pandemic to monitor anti-lockdown campaigners. The exchanges are likely to fuel claims that Labour is seeking to silence criticism over its continued use of asylum hotels. Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to end their use by 2029 amid concerns that they are costing taxpayers £4m a day and causing tensions in communities. The row over the hotels exploded again earlier this month when demonstrations broke out at a hotel in Epping after a migrant tried to kiss a teenager, with further protests held there on Thursday night. Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, has told the Cabinet the Government must take concerns about immigration seriously and do more to alleviate them. However, one post flagged by the Government unit with 'urgency' included a photograph of a rejected freedom of information request about the location of asylum hotels, and a reference to asylum seekers as 'undocumented fighting-age males'. An unnamed civil servant warned there were 'significant risks' of protests at migrant hotels becoming violent because of the posts and there was a 'definite sense of urgency' about them in Whitehall. The emails were sent on Aug 3 and 4 last year, the worst weekend of the riots, when protesters attacked asylum hotels across the UK. The violence spiralled after false claims circulated that the perpetrator of the Southport attack, in which three little girls were killed, was a Muslim asylum seeker. The Government's private exchange with TikTok came days before Elon Musk, the tech billionaire owner of X and a former ally of Mr Trump, criticised 'two-tier Keir'. The phrase was echoed by Nigel Farage, who warned that police had created a 'sense of injustice'. In another email the same weekend, officials warned TikTok that users were posting about 'two-tier' policing at Southport demonstrations, amid accusations that white protesters had been treated more harshly by the police than ethnic minorities. It said: 'I am sure you will not be surprised at the significant volumes of anti-immigrant content directed at Muslim and Jewish communities as well as concerning narratives about the police and a 'two-tier' system we are seeing across the online environment.' Officials requested that TikTok explain 'any measures you have taken in response ... as soon as you are able to'. A third example of 'concerning content' flagged by the team was a video of Pakistani men celebrating on a street, posted on Aug 5 and captioned: 'Looks like Islamabad but it's Manchester'. The team claimed it had been shared 'in order to incite fear of the Muslim community'. The emails did not ask for the content to be removed, but requested that TikTok explained how it was dealing with it. However, critics have said they amount to Government censorship of free speech online. The emails were revealed by Jim Jordan, the chairman of the US House of Representatives' judiciary committee, which issued a subpoena to TikTok to hand over messages 'regarding the company's compliance with foreign censorship laws'. Mr Jordan said Labour ministers had censored posts that were critical of the Government's policy on asylum, warning critics of Sir Keir to 'watch out'. He said: 'In recent years, UK citizens have become increasingly fed up with the double standard in the UK. Mean tweets get you a longer prison sentence than many violent offences.' Government sources denied that officials had censored the posts, insisting the unit's role was to monitor online 'trends' and point out where platforms' own rules had been broken. However, the emails have prompted fresh scrutiny of the secretive disinformation team, which was criticised during the pandemic for using the government's 'trusted flagger' status to report critics of lockdown and child vaccinations. A spokesman for the Big Brother Watch campaign group called for an immediate investigation into the team, warning that an 'unaccountable and secretive Government unit is spying on speech that is critical of the police and Government policies'. The spokesman added: 'Legitimate concerns about racism and violence must not become a blank cheque for the monitoring and censorship of controversial speech, absent of any oversight or scrutiny.' Labour was recently criticised over the 'cover-up' of a secret resettlement programme for Afghans affected by a data leak in 2022. Officials were worried that the announcement would create a 'risk of disorder'. Free speech campaigners have already raised concerns about the imprisonment of Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for 31 months for a post about asylum hotels on the day of the Southport attacks. Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: 'When I called out 'two-tier Keir', little did I realise Starmer's officials were pressurising tech companies to suppress debate about a 'two-tier' justice system. 'This Government's cynical attack on free speech will only further erode public confidence in the criminal justice system. The solution is to apply the law evenly to all groups, not to attempt to stifle criticism.' It is understood that Mr Jordan, a Trump ally, raised the TikTok emails directly with Mr Kyle on Wednesday. It is understood TikTok is one of several companies contacted by officials during the riots. Their meeting came a day after Mr Kyle said Nigel Farage was 'on the side' of Jimmy Savile for opposing the new online safety rules. Government sources said Mr Jordan's committee had misunderstood the role of NSOIT, which they said was to find out whether tech companies were taking action on harmful content, not to order them to remove it. A Government spokesman said: 'Free speech is a cornerstone of our democracy. The Online Safety Act protects it. Platforms have a duty to uphold freedom of expression, and the Act places no curbs whatsoever on what adults can say and see on the internet – unless it is something that would already be illegal, offline. 'The Government has no role in deciding what actions platforms take on legal content for adults – that is a matter for them, according to their own rules. 'However we make no apologies for flagging to platforms content which is contrary to their own terms of service and which can result in violent disorder on our streets, as we saw in the wake of the horrific Southport attack.'
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Top EU court strikes a blow against Italy's Albania migrant camps scheme
The European Union's top court has backed Italian judges who questioned a list of 'safe countries' drawn up by Rome, as it prepares to deport migrants to detention centres in Albania. The hard-right government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni denounced the European Court of Justice's (ECJ) ruling and said it 'weakens policies to combat mass illegal immigration'. Meloni's plan to outsource migrant processing to a non-EU country and speed up repatriations of failed asylum seekers has been followed closely by others in the bloc. The costly scheme has been frozen for months by legal challenges. Italian magistrates have cited the European court's decision that EU states cannot designate an entire country as 'safe' when certain regions are not. On Friday, in a long-awaited judgement, the Luxembourg-based ECJ said Italy is free to decide which countries are 'safe', but warned that such a designation should meet strict legal standards and allow applicants and courts to access and challenge the supporting evidence. In its statement, the ECJ said a Rome court had turned to EU judges, citing the impossibility of accessing such information and thus preventing it from 'challenging and reviewing the lawfulness of such a presumption of safety'. The ECJ also said a country might not be classified 'safe' if it does not offer adequate protection to its entire population, agreeing with Italian judges that had raised this issue last year. Meloni and her Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, had signed a migration deal in November 2023, and last year, Rome opened two centres in Albania, where it planned to process up to 36,000 asylum seekers per year. The detention facilities have, however, been empty for months, due to the judicial obstacles. Last week, a report found that their construction cost was seven times more than that of an equivalent centre in Italy. Government's approach 'dismantled'? The European court made its judgement considering a case of two Bangladeshi nationals who were rescued at sea by Italian authorities and taken to Albania, where their asylum claims were rejected based on Italy's classification of Bangladesh as a 'safe' country. Dario Belluccio, a lawyer who represented one of the Bangladeshi asylum seekers at the ECJ on Friday, said the Albanian migrant camps scheme had been killed off. 'It will not be possible to continue with what the Italian government had envisioned before this decision … Technically, it seems to me that the government's approach has been completely dismantled,' he told the Reuters news agency. Meloni's office complained that the EU judgement allows national judges to dictate policy on migration, 'further reduc(ing) the already limited' capacity of parliament and government to take decisions on the matter. 'This is a development that should concern everybody,' it said. Meanwhile, though the Albanian scheme is stuck in legal limbo, Italy's overall effort to curb undocumented migration by sea has been successful. There have been 36,557 such migrant arrivals in the year to date, slightly up from the same period of 2024, but far below the 89,165 recorded over the same time span in 2023.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Court limits Italy's fast-track return of rejected asylum seekers to 'safe' countries
Judges at the EU's top court ruled Friday that Italy can fast-track deportations of migrants to countries designated as 'safe," but with limits. The Court of Justice of the European Union was asked if an accelerated asylum procedure, allowing officials to quickly return migrants from countries not facing war or significant crises, was permissible. Two Bangladeshi nationals, who were rescued at sea last year by the Italian navy, were taken to a detention center in Albania. Because Bangladesh is on a list of countries Italy considers safe, their claim for asylum was given a speedy assessment before being rejected. The fast-track process, and detaining migrants at facilities in Albania, were introduced by the government of Premier Giorgia Meloni to curb the number of migrants entering the country. Both policies have faced intense criticism. Italian courts have ruled against the policies and referred several cases to the EU's court in Luxembourg for clarification. Opposition politicians say the scheme is expensive, complicated and damaging to migrants' rights. A non-governmental delegation observing the process in Albania says it illegally deprives migrants of assistance with asylum claims. The Luxembourg-based court on Friday said that while having a fast-track procedure doesn't violate EU law, the designation of safe countries must be subject to judicial scrutiny so migrants can challenge their asylum decisions. Meloni's office expressed surprise at the ruling, insisting Italy's migration policy is the purview of the executive and legislative branches and shouldn't be subject to judicial review. The decision 'weakens policies to counter mass illegal immigration and defend national borders," Meloni's office said in a statement, adding that it 'further reduces the already narrow margins of autonomy of governments and parliaments' to control migration. The ruling also noted a country cannot be deemed safe if there is insufficient protection for vulnerable groups. The country in question must be 'safe for its entire population and not just for part of it,' the 22-page decision says. An Italian court held last year that migrants from Bangladesh and Egypt couldn't be immediately returned because those countries are not safe enough. Judges at the Rome District Court, which referred the case to Luxembourg, will have the final say in determining whether the procedure was correctly applied for the two Bangladeshi nationals. ___ Quell reported from The Hague, Netherlands.
Associated Press
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Court limits Italy's fast-track return of rejected asylum seekers to 'safe' countries
ROME (AP) — Judges at the EU's top court ruled Friday that Italy can fast-track deportations of migrants to countries designated as 'safe,' but with limits. The Court of Justice of the European Union was asked if an accelerated asylum procedure, allowing officials to quickly return migrants from countries not facing war or significant crises, was permissible. Two Bangladeshi nationals, who were rescued at sea last year by the Italian navy, were taken to a detention center in Albania. Because Bangladesh is on a list of countries Italy considers safe, their claim for asylum was given a speedy assessment before being rejected. The fast-track process, and detaining migrants at facilities in Albania, were introduced by the government of Premier Giorgia Meloni to curb the number of migrants entering the country. Both policies have faced intense criticism. Italian courts have ruled against the policies and referred several cases to the EU's court in Luxembourg for clarification. Opposition politicians say the scheme is expensive, complicated and damaging to migrants' rights. A non-governmental delegation observing the process in Albania says it illegally deprives migrants of assistance with asylum claims. The Luxembourg-based court on Friday said that while having a fast-track procedure doesn't violate EU law, the designation of safe countries must be subject to judicial scrutiny so migrants can challenge their asylum decisions. Meloni's office expressed surprise at the ruling, insisting Italy's migration policy is the purview of the executive and legislative branches and shouldn't be subject to judicial review. The decision 'weakens policies to counter mass illegal immigration and defend national borders,' Meloni's office said in a statement, adding that it 'further reduces the already narrow margins of autonomy of governments and parliaments' to control migration. The ruling also noted a country cannot be deemed safe if there is insufficient protection for vulnerable groups. The country in question must be 'safe for its entire population and not just for part of it,' the 22-page decision says. An Italian court held last year that migrants from Bangladesh and Egypt couldn't be immediately returned because those countries are not safe enough. Judges at the Rome District Court, which referred the case to Luxembourg, will have the final say in determining whether the procedure was correctly applied for the two Bangladeshi nationals. ___ Quell reported from The Hague, Netherlands.
Washington Post
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Court limits Italy's fast-track return of rejected asylum seekers to 'safe' countries
ROME — Judges at the EU's top court ruled Friday that Italy can fast-track deportations of migrants to countries designated as 'safe,' but with limits. The Court of Justice of the European Union was asked if an accelerated asylum procedure, allowing officials to quickly return migrants from countries not facing war or significant crises, was permissible.
