94 m. ago The real difficulty ministers face is that the Epping hotel judgment is a clean and fair application of the law: ANDREW TETTENBORN

The Government's immigration policy of putting asylum seekers in hotels in some of the less well-off parts of the country has received a major blow

Politics

7 h. ago Ice used Marriott chain to detain immigrants, despite hotel’s 2019 pledge not to cooperate

Sheraton in Louisiana held father and teenage son this month in apparent contradiction of former positionA Sheraton hotel in Louisiana has been used by immigration officials to hold people who are being deported, in what appears to be a contradiction of a position Sheraton’s parent company, Marriott, took in 2019 when it said its properties would not be used in cooperation with Ice.The Intercept first reported that the hotel, located on MacArthur Drive in Alexandria, Louisiana, near a major deportation hub and airport used by Ice, had been used by immigration officials earlier this month to hold a father and his teenage son for four days after their arrest in New York. They were then deported to Ecuador. The Intercept cited phone-tracking evidence that had been shared with the publication and was later seen by the Guardian. Continue reading...

Events

9 h. ago UK fails to stop removal of asylum seekers from Essex hotel at centre of immigration debate

Local authority injunction ruling may lead to more councils seeking to shut down hotels that house migrants

Events

6 d. ago Asylum seeker at Epping migrant hotel is charged with sexual assault after Ethiopian charged for 'attacking girls' in a separate incident sparked huge protests

Mohammed Sharwarq, a Syrian national living at the Bell Hotel in Epping, faces seven charges linked to offences alleged to have been committed between July 25 and August 12.

Events

6 d. ago Syrian asylum seeker, 32, is charged with sexually assaulting male while staying at protest

Mohammed Sharwarq, a Syrian national living at the Bell Hotel in Epping, faces seven charges linked to offences alleged to have been committed between July 25 and August 12.

Events

6 d. ago Voices: ‘Complete mess’: Readers slam Kemi Badenoch’s proposal to put asylum seekers in ‘migrant camps’

Our community described the Tory leader’s suggestion as cruel – and a distraction from deeper political failures

Events

1 week ago Targeted by the right, Britain’s asylum hotels are places of fear and disorder. Bad political decisions made it so | Daniel Trilling

In the frenzy of racism and culture warring, the issue of why hotels are used gets overlookedA broad section of Britain’s right has spent the summer behaving as if it would like a repeat of last year’s racist riots. As politicians and commentators cry “tinderbox Britain” – are they warning us, or willing it on? – far-right extremists have been actively trying to stoke violence. This year, they have pinned their hopes on asylum hotels, an issue where public fears over crime, immigration and the welfare state conveniently converge.In some places, far-right activists have piggybacked on protests prompted by local grievances. The most significant this year was in Epping, Essex, after an alleged sexual assault by an asylum seeker led to demonstrations that turned violent when they were joined by members of various far-right groups. A similar pattern has unfolded in London’s Canary Wharf, after untrue rumours that some of the Epping hotel residents were being moved there. In other cases, ...

Events