London: Hotels in the UK are used by at-risk travelers. According to The Guardian, Afghan refugees will be relocated to make room for migrants who travel across the English Channel in small boats.
The ex-interpreters and soldiers from Afghanistan who were evacuated to the UK following the Taliban takeover have been informed that they will be kicked out of their homes at the end of the month.
The government is funding 5,000 beds to potentially house new boat arrivals this summer and fall, but the thousands of rooms they occupy will still be paid for by British taxpayers.
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Approximately 13,000 people have crossed the Channel to enter Britain so far this year. Ministers worry about a spike in immigration in the upcoming months.
Last week, UK Home Office representatives informed MPs that the government was still paying for hotel beds with tax dollars to house asylum seekers and reduce crowding in detention facilities.
According to The Guardian, small-boat arrivals will be welcomed at at least three hotels housing some of the 8,000 Afghans.
The fact that some of the people arriving by boat are of Afghan descent, including individuals who were accepted into the UK's official relocation program for Afghanistan, further complicates the situation.
Peymana Assad, a councilor from the Labour Party, stated: "Afghans are now at risk of homelessness come the eviction date and, what is worse, is that those coming on the small boats are eligible Afghan refugees or have already received acceptance letters under the Arap (Afghan relocations and assistance policy).
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Vulnerable Afghans are being forced onto boats as a result of the government's continued refusal to offer safe asylum routes for them, as it did for Ukrainians. By doing this, they effectively pit Afghan refugees against one another.
Other opponents of the plan have expressed worry that the evictions will fuel the myth that the Afghan refugees entered the UK illegally.
Shabnam Nasimi, director of the conservative Friends of Afghanistan, stated: "It is obvious that the government is looking for a solution to the small-boat crisis. However, this response is false and contributes to the misconception that Afghans who were invited here are doing so illegally.
Local councils across the nation have issued warnings that many Afghans could become homeless as a result of eviction due to Britain's housing shortage.
According to a Home Office spokesperson, hotels were never intended to serve as long-term housing for Afghan refugees resettled in the UK, and it is not in their best interests for them to do so for extended periods of time.
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"Due to this, we have announced a plan to accelerate the relocation of Afghan nationals into long-term housing, supported by £285 million in new funding.
There is a lot of government assistance available, and we will keep trying our best to assist Afghan families in rebuilding their lives here.