An investigation has exposed how migrants are being instructed on how to play the legal system.
The Express’s Associate Editor, James Walker, fumed at new revelations. (Image: The Express / Getty)
An undercover investigation has revealed how migrants are being told to pose as gay people to cheat the UK asylum system, in what has been described as one of the biggest “scandals in a very, very long time”. Individuals whose visas are due to run out are being given fake cover stories, and lawyers are instructing them in how to obtain fabricated evidence, such as supporting letters, staged photographs from LGBT clubs and medical reports.
They then apply for asylum, claiming to be gay and in fear for their lives if they return to their native Pakistan or Bangladesh. Speaking about the undercover investigation on our podcast, The Daily Expresso, host JJ Anisiobi, asked The Express’s Associate Editor, James Walker: “Is this not ludicrous?” James replied: “You couldn’t make it up.”
“Apparently, they’re being told to stage personal photos in gay nightclubs,” he added. “So, they’re basically going down to Soho and taking pictures in front of rainbows.”
James said he thinks the scandal, revealed by the BBC, has got to be “one of the biggest migration scandals in a very, very long time”. JJ replied: “These are mostly people who have come here on visas, and are set to be ‘kicked out of the country’.
“They’re trying to gain the system,” he added.
James pointed out that there will be gay people who are here for genuine reasons, which is “fair enough”. But “these guys are making it up”, he added.
He called lawyers advising those seeking to stay in the country “totally cynical”, as they’re “teaching people how to basically commit fraud”.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood promised action would be taken. She told the BBC: “Anyone abusing protections for people fleeing persecution over gender or sexual orientation is beyond contempt.
“Let me be clear: try to defraud the British people to enter or remain in the UK and your asylum claim will be refused, your support cut off, and you will find yourself on a one-way flight out of Britain. Sham lawyers facilitating this abuse will face the full force of the law.”