MP accuses Priti Patel of ‘misleading’ public by calling migrants ‘illegal’ after court ruling

The UK’s Home Secretary, Priti Patel, has been accused by a Member of Parliament of maintaining that any attempts by asylum seekers to cross the English Channel are “illegal,” in direct contradiction to a court’s ruling that they are not.

On 21 December, judges ruled that “As the law presently stands, an asylum seeker who merely attempts to arrive at the frontiers of the United Kingdom in order to make a claim is not entering or attempting to enter the country unlawfully.”

Since then, however, government ministers and officials – including Patel – have still been referring to migrants and asylum seekers who attempt to make the deadly crossing across the English Channel as “illegal”.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) MP, Stuart McDonald, who sits on the Home Affairs Committee, told the Independent newspaper that the term is “very troubling” and in direct contradiction to the court ruling.

“It’s a misleading way of talking about this issue and totally mischaracterises what is happening,” McDonald said, calling it “a deliberate attempt to dehumanise these people and make the public think worse of them.”

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Under the recent ruling, migrants are only entering the country illegally if they intend to avoid the authorities and fail to claim asylum. Figures by the Home Office itself, however, have shown that almost all migrants crossing the Channel on small boats claim asylum upon their arrival, and that the vast majority of those are granted protection by the government.

UK law also obligates anyone claiming asylum to be in the country at the time of their application.

The MP’s criticism of Patel and the Minister’s use of the term “illegal” comes at a time when the current government is attempting to clamp down on immigration into the UK, especially through the Channel crossings, with the controversial Nationality and Borders Bill having been proposed towards the end of last year and still in the process of being passed.

According to the paper, a spokesperson for the Home Office said that “We are reforming our approach to illegal entry to the UK and asylum to end the overt exploitation of our laws which UK taxpayers are forced to endure.” They added that “the Nationality and Borders Bill will make illegal arrival a criminal offence and introduce a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for those who facilitate illegal entry into the country.”

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