Up to 500 UK asylum seekers could start staying on the Bibby Stockholm barge, located on the British island of Portland, before next weekend, Home Secretary Sarah Dines said in an interview on Monday.
Asked about it, Dines refused to confirm the exact moment of the transfer, citing security and operational reasons, but assured on the Today television program that it will happen "very soon, imminently, this week, in the next few days."
Dines also confirmed that the number of asylum seekers would be around 500 and justified the controversial move as a way of sending the message to people arriving in the UK on small boats that they would not end up in "luxury" accommodation. "Using a barge sends a strong message that there will be adequate but not luxurious accommodation," he said.
"There have been promises made abroad by gangs and organized crime organizations that have tried to smuggle people into the country and say: 'You will stay in a very nice hotel in the middle of a city in England,'" the minister said. "That has to stop," she settled.
Several British media reported today that the government of Rishi Sunak plans to send asylum seekers to the British island of Ascension, a remote volcanic island in the South Atlantic, in the event that the case is rejected by the Supreme Court. his plans to send the migrants to Rwanda pending clarification of their immigration status.
