Asylum seeker says system is ‘more than broken’ as case takes two years and counting | UK | News

A Palestinian asylum seeker who arrived two years ago said Britain’s asylum system was “deeply broken”. Ibrahim Altaqatqa came to the UK on a tourist visa and then sought asylum. While he was waiting for his compensation claim to be processed, he met his British partner Yvonne and their daughter Alisha was born five weeks ago.

But Ibrahim’s claim remained unresolved and he said he could not return to his home near Hebron in the West Bank because of his political activism.

“The system is more than broken; it crossed that limit a long time ago,” he said in an interview with . Sky News.

“I can’t be stuck like this,” he said, adding that he wanted to move on with his life and be allowed to work. “I can’t spend every day of my life waiting for someone to say, ‘Okay, we’ll make you a decision.’

“I don’t think you need two years to process any asylum claim. I don’t think it’s a complex case at that level. I’m not single anymore. I have other responsibilities now.”

Ibrahim, who used to farm in the Golan Heights (the area considered by the UN to be part of Israeli-occupied Syria), said he was familiar with the changing public mood regarding migration and shared frustration with the money spent on refugees.

“I don’t think they directed their anger at the right group,” he said. “I’ve talked to people protesting in front of the hotel many times.

“I said, ‘If you’re really angry and you really want to save your country, I’ll be more than happy to come with you and go to the protest with you,'” he said.

Ibrahim claimed that he had stayed in three shelter hotels funded by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and at one point contracted scabies. He added that at one point the food and conditions were so bad that he left and slept on the streets.

It came in a bombshell report by the National Audit Office (NAO) which revealed the Home Office did not know how many asylum seekers had gone missing since entering the UK in 2020.

“We found several examples of data that could help the government better understand outcomes within the asylum system that are not routinely collected or fail to provide,” the watchdog said in its report. “For example, the Home Office did not have full data on the number of people escaping the asylum system.”

The report also found that the asylum system is costing taxpayers an eye-watering £4.9bn in 2024-25, mainly due to the provision of taxpayer-funded migrant hotels and other accommodation. However, this figure does not include major expenses such as legal aid for asylum seekers’ lawyers and the costs incurred by local councils responsible for supporting successful applicants; This means the real figure could be significantly higher.