BID statement on forcing people seeking asylum to live at Crowborough barracks
Government repeats damaging policy by housing people at an army site, putting vulnerable people at serious risk.
BID is extremely concerned about the use of Crowborough barracks to house asylum seekers, which opened last week.
No one should have to live in overcrowded, inhumane conditions without privacy, especially people seeking asylum, who need safety and stability to recover from the trauma they have fled.
Quasi-detention centres like this were investigated in 2021 by an All-Party Parliamentary Group, which found:
“people accommodated at the sites – who have come to the UK seeking safety and sanctuary – have been subjected to appalling treatment and conditions. The experience has left many of them feeling dehumanised, exhausted and suffering a profound deterioration in their mental health, in some cases to the point of attempting suicide.”
The investigation also concluded that these centres are inherently isolating and retraumatising, severely lacking in privacy, and that they increase sleep deprivation, restrict access to the asylum system, healthcare, and other essential support, and impose movement restrictions that leave people feeling trapped.
In this case, we are also increasingly concerned about safety. We have already seen large-scale anti-migrant protests at the Crowborough site framed around the “safety of the community”, a rhetoric rooted in racist stereotypes that are amplified and perpetuated by politicians and sections of the media.
In this context, it is vital to recenter the safety and wellbeing of the 500 people who have no choice but to live in these barracks, isolated from supportive communities, in accommodation already proven to be dehumanising and harmful.
People seeking asylum are legally prohibited from working or renting a home. This is why they have no choice but to rely on the government, which has a duty to provide them with safe, suitable accommodation. Crowborough is clearly not fit for this purpose.
Everyone has the right to live safely and with dignity. People seeking asylum should be supported to rebuild their lives and be free to live and work. We call for the closure of the site and for everyone there to be supported in the community.
