Sudanese migrants had ‘supremely easy’ path to asylum in 2023 | Politics | News
It was “extremely easy” for Sudanese migrants to gain asylum in the UK at the time of the suspected Belfast attacker’s arrival, according to a tipster. Hadi Alodid, a Sudanese national, was reportedly able to stay in the UK in 2023 after filling out a questionnaire rather than facing the standard interview.
An asylum case officer at the Ministry of Internal Affairs said there was pressure to speed up requests from Sudanese amid the country’s civil war. Sudan was one of six countries on the fast-track program as part of Rishi Sunak’s promise to clear the backlog. However, the tipster claimed this meant security checks were bypassed and staff productivity targets were set.
He told The Times that 2023, amid the country’s civil war, was “an extremely easy time to get a grant as a Sudanese”, adding that staff were “going over their heads to donate”.
He said: “It wasn’t about good decisions, it was about making decisions and there was nothing like hitting targets.”
He said Alodid would be a “double whammy” because it would “shoot the productivity of an individual caseworker through the roof.”
But this created a “huge problem”, he said, adding: “Everyone wanted Sudan’s claim to hit its target, and then suddenly Sudan’s claims got a reputation for being easy. So people started looking for any reason to give grants… It snowballs, the more rights are given, the more likely they are to be granted. Nobody wanted to miss the gold rush.”
Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said this morning that the rapid asylum scheme was no longer in force.
“This was a process that the last government put in place,” he told Times Radio.
Asked if it still exists now, he said: “Yes, it does not, because this acceleration process is not working, because the last government lost control of immigration.
“As you know, net migration is now down 82% compared to the peak reached under the last government, as a result of a number of steps we have taken.”
“And now that we are dealing with the asylum backlog, we are processing cases faster.”
Mr Benn added that asylum seekers were now “properly processed” so that a decision could be made on whether to grant asylum.
