Latest news with #refugeeStatus
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE How successful asylum claims for gay refugees have QUADRUPLED since pre-Covid
The number of asylum seekers successfully claiming to be gay to bag a one-way ticket to Britain has quadrupled since pre-Covid. Before the small boats crisis hit all-time highs, fewer than 500 arrivals were granted refugee status because of their sexual orientation each year. But figures exposing our 'push-over' system reveal this rose to 2,133 in 2023. From Bangladesh, where homosexual acts can be punished with life imprisonment, grants have risen 10-fold since 2015, MailOnline can reveal. Asylum claims are also being accepted from residents of nations where being gay is legal, such as Albania. The full findings of our investigation, part of our long-running series into 'soft-touch' Britain, can be viewed below. Home Office chiefs demand all asylum seekers trying to stay in Britain offer concrete proof to show they are at risk of persecution in their home country. Campaigners say they also must provide 'credible evidence' they are LGBT+, such as love letters and photos with partners. Yet critics claim that many – under the advise of legal firms funded by taxpayers – try to game the system by pretending to be gay. Robert Bates, research director at the Centre for Migration Control, said: 'The Home Office has lost control of the asylum system and allowed it to be hijacked by lefty lawyers who are fully committed to undermining Britain's borders. 'These figures show many illegal migrants are claiming to be gay simply because it bolsters their chances of being given refugee status. 'Far too many grants of asylum are given to undeserving individuals who have lied their way through the process. 'The system is swamped, costing taxpayers an absolute fortune, and is not currently fit for purpose. The only way to restore order is to freeze asylum claims, end the corruption, and bring back a semblance of border control.' Alp Mehmet, of Migration Watch UK, said: 'The soaring figures are another clear sign that Britain is now a push-over when it comes to gaming the asylum system. 'If you want to migrate and hail from a country where you know the no British government will ever return you, all you need do is concoct an unverifiable back story, and you're home and dry.' Our analysis comes after a Pakistani asylum seeker last week begged Keir Starmer to let him stay in the UK because he is gay. Ali Raza Nasir insists he came to the UK to study but realised he would be 'safe' here when he visited Soho in London and met other gay people. Mr Nasir fears he will be deported to his home nation, where an arranged marriage with a woman awaits. Meanwhile, an Albanian asylum seeker who petitioned for the right to stay in the UK because he was 'gay' had his case denied earlier this month. An immigration judge found Esmir Demaj was now married to a woman. In one of the most brazen cases, as told by a Home Office source to the Mail, a man was granted asylum after he 'produced a photograph of himself with his arm around another man' as proof he was gay. It subsequently turned out that the person he had his arm around was his brother. Another notorious case from January made a mockery of the protections offered to gay people facing hardship. A convicted gay Zimbabwean paedophile was allowed to stay in Britain under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) because, it was argued, he would face 'substantial hostility' if he was sent home. On that occasion, there was no dispute that the man was attracted to males, even if they were children. The article is frequently used by asylum seekers to launch appeals on the basis that their personal circumstances would expose them to harm in their home countries. Home Office statistics, which began in 2015, do not show whether sexual orientation was the sole basis for the asylum claim. In 2023, the most recent year full data exists for, there were 578 asylum claims made on the basis of sexual orientation from Pakistan. Pakistan was followed by Bangladesh (175), Nigeria (103) and India (39). MailOnline's investigation into the issue found several legal firms advertising advice on how to jump through the Home Office's official hoops. They issue guidance on how asylum seekers can ace their personal testimony interview, which is described as 'the most compelling piece of evidence'. Tips included making sure their testimony was 'highly detailed and consistent', and it would be best if they built 'as strong a case as possible' to be successful in gaining refugee status. The coaching even includes how applicants should explain how their identity within the LGBT community was formed and differs from cultural norms in their home country. Also included are examples of the type of documents that the Home Office accepts as supporting evidence, which is described as helping 'strengthen asylum claims'. The topic of asylum seekers weaponising compassionate British law by pretending to be gay has been raised by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who has taken the extraordinary step of issuing a warning to the Home Office. His human rights group, the Peter Tatchell Foundation, used to receive only a handful of small personal donations online each week. All of a sudden, however, this has soared to up to 30 a day, accompanied by a similar surge in the numbers signing up for a weekly newsletter. The donations all come from men from Pakistan, which is the nation with the largest number of claimants in the world. It appears, he told the Mail, some may have been collating documentary evidence of their contact with the group in a bid to back up their asylum claims. However, he said there was 'no proof of wrong-doing' and that 'asylum fraud is rare'. Mr Tatchell told MailOnline: 'Asylum applicants have to provide credible evidence they are LGBT+, such as love letters, photos with partners, evidence of active involvement with LGBT+ organisations and campaigns. 'They also need to provide detailed evidence of the homophobic persecution they suffered: newspaper reports about what happened to them, police reports of their arrest, court documents citing their charges and sentence, etc. 'It would be very difficult to fake or forge these requirements. Online guidance cannot produce medical reports that confirm a LGBT+ person has been tortured or a police report documenting their arrest.' Mr Tatchell believes part of the rise in LGBT+ asylum applicants is due to increased homophobic repression in many countries in 2022-23, such as the Taliban's control of Afghanistan and Putin's issuing of new harsh laws in Russia. In December, the Mail on Sunday revealed how a Jamaican man who raped a sleeping woman at a party had been allowed to stay after his lawyers argued he was bisexual and would be put at risk if deported. In that case, the Home Office said that, since his arrival here 23 years ago, there was zero evidence of bisexuality, only of relationships with women. Even so, the tribunal judge bizarrely accepted he was likely to have been bisexual and blocked his deportation – a decision later upheld when the Home Office appealed to the upper tribunal judges. And two years ago Saheed Azeez, from Nigeria, won asylum after claiming to be gay – despite having three children by three women. Mr Mehmet added: 'Why have those who have made their way to the UK illegally from the other side of the Channel not claimed asylum in France or elsewhere in the EU? 'And why do migrants who have been here for years only claim asylum at the point of having to leave? 'As Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, has implied, perhaps some asylum seekers and their legal representatives are only too ready to grab any loophole they find.' In September 2023, the then Tory home secretary Suella Braverman said that some asylum seekers 'purport to be homosexual in the effort to game our system, in the effort to get special treatment'. She added: 'That's not fair and it's not right.' It led to her being castigated by some gay groups for making what they described as 'deeply disturbing' comments which, they said, 'question the legitimacy of LGBTQI+ people claiming asylum in the UK'. Many Left-wing pressure groups and other woke advocates refuse to countenance the possibility that any claim based on homosexuality could be fictional and depict any attempt to address such abuse as being reactionary or even homophobic. A Home Office spokesperson said 'Every asylum claim is assessed on its individual merits, and decision-makers receive thorough training to ensure genuine cases are treated fairly. 'A strong system of safeguards and quality checks supports this process, helping to ensure all claims are properly reviewed and decisions are reliable. 'We take any abuse of the immigration system extremely seriously. Where there is evidence of wrongdoing, we will take firm action to challenge it and protect the integrity of our borders.'
Irish Times
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Ministers accused of giving ‘half the picture' on refugees as more than 40% get positive decisions
More than 40 per cent of asylum seekers were granted International Protection or permission to remain in the last year, a higher proportion than suggested by Ministers in recent weeks. The Government has been accused by campaigners of presenting 'only half the picture' in public statements on refusal rates. An analysis of Department of Justice data highlights that almost twice as many applicants ultimately gained protection in their final outcomes compared to the figures that Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan and Minister of State for Migration Colm Brophy chose. In February, Mr O'Callaghan said 'too many' people were applying for asylum who were 'not entitled' to it, citing an 80 per cent refusal figure that applies only to first decisions and not appeals. Mr Brophy has also cited the rate. READ MORE In the 13 months to April, 43 per cent of decisions on asylum applications resulted in the individual getting refugee status, subsidiary protection or permission to remain, data published in the department's monthly International Protection Summary reports shows. Mr O'Callaghan said 80 per cent of asylum seekers' applications were 'refused in the first instance' in January. He said more than 65 per cent of the 14,000 applicants last year were rejected at the first instance. [ International protection overhaul an 'important step' in wider reform, Minister says Opens in new window ] However, when appeals decisions are included, the 2024 rejection rate falls to 58 per cent, according to department's reports. When a person applies for International Protection, a 'first instance' decision is reached as to their eligibility for refugee status, subsidiary protection or permission to remain on humanitarian grounds. If their application is rejected, they have a right to appeal and may be granted permission to remain. Data from the department on first-instance decisions show that to the end of April, of the 7,269 asylum applications, 75 per cent were refused. However, when appeals results are included, the refusal rate falls to 62 per cent. Last year, of the 14,125 asylum applications processed, 9,207, or 65 per cent, were refused at first instance. The inclusion of appeal decisions brings the refusal rate down by 7 per cent. [ More than 15,000 international protection appeals could be lodged this year, Minister told Opens in new window ] In some months, more than half of decisions were to grant status – notably in August 2024, when the grant rate was 59 per cent, April 2024, when it was 53 per cent, and in May 2024, when 50 per cent of decisions were positive. Nick Henderson, Irish Refugee Council chief executive, said its analysis found 42 per cent of decisions since January 2024 were to grant International Protection or permission to remain. 'The final, overall recognition rate is considerably higher than the rate cited by the Government and some Opposition spokespersons. 'It is essential that data is presented accurately and not selectively... Referencing only first-instance recognition rates ... presents only half the picture. [ 'I was very upset about how Coolock came across': Locals believe handling of asylum-seeker centre plan a 'disaster' Opens in new window ] 'Second, selectively citing the lower rate risks creating a false impression that the vast majority of applicants do not need protection – when that is not the case.' A departmental spokesman said: 'The figures quoted by the Minister refer to first-instance decisions. 'Many cases in the system are currently being processed under an accelerated procedure and overall, there has been a significant increase in throughput in the International Protection system too. It is therefore likely that the final determination figures will eventually 'catch up' and, in time, align more proportionally with first-instance decisions.'
CBS News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
How Trump misrepresented images to support claims of "White genocide" in South Africa, including Congo video
In his Oval Office meeting Wednesday with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, President Trump made allegations of persecution of White farmers in South Africa, which he used to justify granting refugee status to a group of Afrikaners earlier this month. Ramaphosa has denied there is a genocide, and some Afrikaners say Mr. Trump is being lied to about a "White genocide" in the country. In the last three months of 2024, 12 people were murdered on farms in South Africa, according to South African police. One was a White farmer, while the others were Black laborers or security workers, police said. Some estimates say in recent years there have been about 50 farm murders a year, but those do not specify race. The country had nearly 27,000 total murders last year, according to police data. Mr. Trump played videos and held up articles during the White House meeting this week to support his unsubstantiated claims. But much of what he showed was being misrepresented. Here are three examples: Reuters footage of bodies in the Democratic Republic of Congo Mr. Trump held up a printed article from "American Thinker," a conservative online magazine, that included a screenshot, credited to Reuters, that the president said showed "all White farmers that are being buried." President Trump holds up a printed article from "American Thinker" while accusing South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa of state-sanctioned violence against White farmers in South Africa during a press availability in the Oval Office at the White House on May 21, the video the screenshot was taken from was of humanitarian workers lifting body bags in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Reuters said. The footage was taken in February after deadly battles with a Rwanda-backed Congolese rebel group in the city of Goma. The "American Thinker" article was about both the Congo and South Africa, but the image does not show South Africa. Andrea Widburg, managing editor at "American Thinker" and the author of the post, told Reuters that Mr. Trump had "misidentified the image." Line of white crosses Mr. Trump claimed images of white crosses seen in the video played during his meeting with Ramaphosa showed burial sites of White farmers. However, the crosses were symbolic, part of a protest in 2020 after the killing of a White farming couple, according to local media coverage. A participant said they represented all farm murders, not solely White farmers, over the years. The demonstration, held near Normandien, South Africa, was calling on the government to take more action against farm killings. Ramaphosa acknowledged a problem of crime in his country. "There is criminality in our country," he said to Mr. Trump. "People who do get killed unfortunately through criminal activity, are not only White people. Majority of them are Black people." Rally footage of fringe politician The video Mr. Trump presented included clips of Julius Malema, the leader of a far-left South African political party, the Economic Freedom Fighters. He is heard singing an anti-apartheid song that includes the lyric, "kill the Boer," referring to White farmers, in multiple clips from recent years. Malema was kicked out of Ramaphosa's governing party, African National Congress, 13 years ago, and Ramaphosa said the EFF is a "small minority party" that does not represent the government. The ANC also distanced itself from the song more than a decade ago. In a statement to Reuters after the meeting between Mr. Trump and Ramaphosa, the EFF said the song "expresses the desire to destroy the system of white minority control over the resources of South Africa." Three South African courts have ruled against attempts to have it designated as hate speech, saying it is a historical liberation chant, not a literal incitement to violence, Reuters reported. Nicole Brown Chau Nicole Brown Chau is a deputy managing editor for She writes and edits national news, health stories, explainers and more. , and contributed to this report.
Al Jazeera
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
‘Refuge to all African Americans' – What Ramaphosa should have told Trump
On May 21, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa stunned the world by announcing that his government had officially granted refugee status to 48 million African Americans. The decision, made through an executive order titled 'Addressing the Egregious Actions and Extensive Failures of the US Government', was unveiled at a news conference held in the tranquil gardens of the Union Buildings in Pretoria. Poised and deliberate, Ramaphosa framed the announcement as a necessary and humane response to what he called 'the absolute mayhem' engulfing the United States. Flanked by Maya Johnson, president of the African American Civil Liberties Association, and her deputy Patrick Miller, Ramaphosa declared that South Africa could no longer ignore the plight of a people 'systematically impoverished, criminalised, and decimated by successive US governments'. Citing a dramatic deterioration in civil liberties under President Donald Trump's second term, Ramaphosa specifically pointed to the administration's barrage of executive orders dismantling affirmative action, gutting DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) initiatives, and permitting federal contractors to discriminate freely. These measures, he said, are calculated to 'strip African Americans of dignity, rights, and livelihood – and to make America white again'. 'This is not policy,' Ramaphosa said, 'this is persecution.' President Trump's 2024 campaign was unabashed in its calls to 'defend the homeland' from what it framed as internal threats – a barely veiled dog whistle for the reassertion of white political dominance. True to his word, Trump has unleashed what critics are calling a rollback not just of civil rights, but of civilisation itself. Ramaphosa noted that under the guise of restoring law and order, the federal government has instituted what amounts to an authoritarian crackdown on Black political dissent. Since Trump's inauguration in January, he said, hundreds of African American activists have been detained by security forces – often on dubious charges – and interrogated under inhumane conditions. While Ramaphosa focused on systemic oppression, Johnson sounded the alarm on what she bluntly described as 'genocide'. 'Black Americans are being hunted,' she told reporters. 'Night after night, day after day, African Americans across the country are being attacked by white Americans. These criminals claim they are 'reclaiming' America. Police departments, far from intervening, are actively supporting these mobs – providing logistical aid, shielding them from prosecution, and joining in the carnage.' The African American Civil Liberties Association estimates that in the past six weeks alone, thousands of African Americans have been threatened, assaulted, disappeared, or killed, she said. The crisis has not gone unnoticed by the remainder of the continent. Last week, the African Union convened an emergency summit to address the deteriorating situation in the US. In a rare unified statement, AU leaders condemned the US government's actions and tasked President Ramaphosa with raising the issue before the United Nations. Their mandate? Repatriate African Americans and offer refuge. Ramaphosa confirmed that the first charter flights carrying refugees will arrive on African soil on May 25 – Africa Day. 'As the sun sets on this dark chapter of American history,' Ramaphosa said, 'a new dawn is rising over Africa. We will not remain passive while a genocide unfolds in the United States.' *** Of course, none of this has happened. There was no statement on 'Egregious Actions and Extensive Failures of the US Government' from South Africa. There was no news conference where an African leader highlighted the plight of his African brothers and sisters in the United States and offered them options. There will be no refuge flights from Detroit to Pretoria. Instead, after the US cut off aid to South Africa, repeated false accusations that a 'white genocide' is taking place there and began welcoming Afrikaners as refugees, a pragmatic Ramaphosa paid a respectful visit to the White House on May 21. During his visit, watched closely by the world media, he did not even mention the millions of African Americans facing discrimination, police violence and abuse under a president who is clearly determined to 'Make America White Again' – let alone offer them refuge in Africa. Even when Trump insisted, without any basis in reality, that a genocide is being perpetrated against white people in his country, Ramaphosa did not bring up Washington's long list of – very real, systemic, and seemingly accelerating – crimes against Black Americans. He tried to remain polite and diplomatic, focusing not on the racist hostility of the American administration but on the important ties between the two nations. Perhaps, in the real world, it is too much to ask an African leader to risk diplomatic fallout by defending Black lives abroad. Perhaps it is easier to shake hands with a man who calls imaginary white suffering a 'genocide' rather than to call out a real one unfolding on his watch. In another world, Ramaphosa stood tall in Pretoria and told Trump`: 'We will not accept your lies about our country – and we will not stay silent as you brutalise our kin in yours.' In this one, he stood quietly in Washington – and did. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
Mail & Guardian
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Mail & Guardian
Malema says Afrikaner asylum seekers look like ‘car guards', not farmers
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says none of the Afrikaners who left South Africa for the United States last week under refugee status are farmers, but instead appeared to be "car guards'. Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema says none of the Afrikaners who left South Africa for the United States last week under refugee status are farmers, but instead appeared to be 'car guards'. Malema made the remarks while addressing scores of EFF supporters outside the Union Buildings on Monday ahead of a march to the treasury. He said anyone who had ties with the 49 Afrikaners should provide their addresses so that their status as farmers could be verified. 'We don't have a problem. People left voluntarily, we are just asking for the addresses of those farms that they left. We will make a plan for them. We cannot allow for land not to be used. 'If they are real farmers, why is the media not giving us the list of the farms that were left by farmers who went to America? Nothing looked like a farmer among those people. They looked like car guards.' The extension of refugee status to Afrikaners was done by US president Donald Trump earlier this year. The policy has also been extended to other minorities in South Africa who could show 'either a history of persecution or a credible fear of future persecution'. Since his first term in office, Trump has maintained that Afrikaner farmers are being attacked because of their race. He has, on several occasions, referred to white farmers as being victims of 'genocide'. Farm killings remain an emotive topic in the country, which is riddled with excessive levels of violent crime. In March, the constitutional court, South Africa's apex court, refused AfriForum leave to appeal against a supreme court ruling that the song The song is often sung by Malema – who has made inflammatory remarks about white and Indian South Africans – at EFF gatherings. President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to meet Trump on Wednesday where, among other things, the notion of 'white genocide' and Afrikaner persecution are expected to be discussed. Speaking to journalists on Saturday, Ramaphosa said there was no genocide in South Africa, a fact that was borne out by evidence. He told the journalists that the two trading partners would be talking trade. 'Just as he [ Trump] meets with other people and I also meet with other people, it's state to state [and] we're representing our people. We are going to have good discussions on trade,' he said. Speaking to his party supporters on Monday, Malema said Ramaphosa would be disrespected in the US. 'Those people know that there's no white person being killed in South Africa, but they use it to make us change our policies.' He said South Africans must reject the 'propaganda'. Should there have been murders of white people because of their race or because they were farmers, those pushing the narrative would have been the first to leave, he said. 'Why is [AfriForum chief executive Kallie] Kriel not going to America, because he is the one who claims that people are being killed? He must lead by example and go to America, [former AfriForum deputy chief executive Ernst] Roets must lead by example and go to America.' 'They can't go because they live a very good life here. When they go to America, they are going to become hobos with immediate effect,' said Malema.
