Illegal migrants facing deportation ‘are given art classes and IT lessons… at a cost to the taxpayer’

Immigrants awaiting deportation are allegedly given art lessons and IT lessons as soon as they arrive at deportation centers, at a cost to taxpayers.

At Brook House and Tinsley House near Gatwick Airport, prisoners and those whose immigration status is being determined will apparently have access to a range of luxuries including ‘welfare buddies’, board games and free access to the gym.

They will also reportedly be able to choose from a collection of library books, attend English classes, and even order fresh produce and items of their choice from the local store.

These are the terms of a lucrative £260 million contract for utilities company Serco to run centers just 200 meters from the airport’s runway for eight years, The Sun reports.

They are currently hosting immigrants preparing to be deported or awaiting a decision on their immigration status.

Some foreign prisoners are also transferred to centers so they can serve part of their sentences before returning home.

According to the newspaper, a 65-page document shows the wealth of food provided in institutions to immigrants waiting to be deported.

Further details of the in-depth art classes show that they include sketching, crafts and acrylic painting and are held in ‘comfortable and welcoming’ craft rooms.

Immigrants can request food, including fresh products, from stores.

When we return to the center, it is written in the contract that those staying there must have the means to prepare hot drinks at any time of the day.

Immigrants can make free international phone calls and have access to newspapers, religious texts and e-books in different languages.

They get £5 more a week in spending money and space to earn £1 an hour to work, including catering, cleaning and managing the on-site gym.

Diversity and equity committee meetings must occur monthly, while centers are required to appoint a diversity and equity consultant and publish annual race relations reports.

Offensive posters should be removed and taken down.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Illegal immigrants should be first on a plane, not given art lessons. Taxpayers’ money is being wasted on this nonsense.

‘The Conservatives plan to leave the European Convention on Human Rights to ensure the immediate deportation of 150,000 illegal immigrants and foreign criminals each year.

At Brook House and Tinsley House, pictured, prisoners and those whose immigration status has been resolved will have ‘welfare buddies’, board games and free access to the gym

‘The government should stop dealing with woke nonsense and concentrate on deporting those who have no right to be here.’

Opened in 2009, Brook House has approximately 450 beds and houses adult men. It has table tennis and billiards tables, gym equipment and IT access.

Tinsley House is smaller and houses about 160 men, including some groups in six-bed rooms.

The Daily Mail has approached Serco for comment.

It comes after footage revealed what happened on a flight where foreign criminals were deported; Some were seen being given debit cards preloaded with £2,000.

The clips showed the group of serious criminals, including murderers, thieves and sexual predators, being sent back to Romania after serving part of their prison sentences.

Up to six staff members were seen escorting each passenger down the stairs to the aircraft to prevent them from attempting to escape; Others had to be restrained to prevent them from becoming aggressive.

The footage, shot by ITV News, was the first time journalists were allowed to board a deportation flight for foreign national offenders (FNOs).

A total of 47 people, mostly men and half a dozen women, were deported in an operation that cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of lira and required nearly a hundred personnel.

The FNOs on board initially arrived in the UK legally, before losing their right to stay by committing a serious offence.

Cards pre-loaded with cash are being distributed under the Facilitated Return Scheme, which gives offenders up to £2,000 to encourage them to volunteer to return.

They were told to withdraw the money after landing and use it to help them settle in Romania.

The ITV film began at a deportation center near Heathrow, where a journalist began questioning some immigrants.

‘Do you want to go home?’ he asked someone.

“No,” he replied. ‘I’ve been living here for 10 years.’

The journalist asked a second man what crime he had committed, but he refused to say.

It comes after footage revealed what happened on a flight where foreign criminals were deported; Some were seen being given debit cards preloaded with £2,000.

A particularly aggressive deportee had to be fitted with an arm brace

Various deportation flights operate from the UK to a variety of different countries every week, with 5,000 FNOs being repatriated last year.

More than 10,000 inmates in the country’s overcrowded prisons are foreigners, and their removal is a government priority.

Deportation flights take place at midnight to prevent disruption of protests; Each FNO is accompanied by three staff, with the most severe ones requiring half a dozen staff and being driven to the airport in their own minibus.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs did not disclose the airline used for the flight or the airport the plane would travel to.

Three immigrants who were supposed to be on the ship avoided the flight, citing legal claims.

Commenting on the footage, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood admitted that giving criminals £2,000 in taxpayers’ cash ‘doesn’t look good’.

But he said: ‘A voluntary dismissal is actually cheaper for British taxpayers.

‘We have long been offering financial packages to encourage people to give up their rights, abandon their attempts to stay in our country, get on a plane and leave.’

Once criminals arrive in Romania, they are free to leave.

One of them said he was ‘very happy’ and would ‘never return to London’ after spending four months in the immigration centre.