65,000 call for Disney characters to be repainted at UK child asylum centre 

A petition launched to repaint Disney cartoon characters at a children’s asylum centre in the UK after Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick ordered that they be painted over has gained more than 65,000 signatories.

Jenrick ordered that it be made clearer that the Intake Unit was a “law enforcement environment” and not a “welcome centre,” the Independent reports.

The decision sparked outrage. Staff at the Kent Intake Unit for processing unaccompanied child asylum seekers allegedly initially refused to paint over the murals whilst some Conservative MPs have said they are appalled at the order.

Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock said that the idea of painting over the murals is “utterly absurd.”

Stephen Kinnock asks Robert Jenrick to reflect on the morality of his actions he just shakes his head and can't look him in the eye 🤷‍♀️

"The immigration minister whose latest foray in playing tough guy was to order Mickey Mouse cartoons to be painted over…" pic.twitter.com/ojjkq6iE1w

— Chirpy Chet (@ChirpyChet) July 11, 2023

According to change.org, where the petition has been published, if it hits 75,000 it will be one of the top signed petitions on the website.

It says: “This is needless cruelty against children who already face immense hardship. Children arriving at the centre in Kent are alone – and seeing cartoons could help provide a small amount of escape.”

“A cartoon mural may seem trivial,” the petition continued. “But, if it can draw just a smile, a moment of comfort or normalcy to a child facing distressing circumstances, then it is worth it. And we need to remind ministers to stand for compassion, not cruelty.”

The petition also states that there are artists on standby who have offered to repaint the murals, which were of Mickey Mouse and Baloo from The Jungle Book, at no expense for the taxpayer.

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The Home Office has said that some of the children at the centre are as young as nine.

The order to paint over the murals has echoes of the government’s 2010 policy to establish a ‘hostile environment’ which was designed to make life in the UK as unbearable as possible for undocumented migrants so that they leave.

In 2021, the five top nationalities of people seeking asylum in the UK were Iran, Iraq, Eritrea, Albania and Syria, according to the Migration Observatory.