Minister claims detention centres for children prevent deaths

Immigration Minister Phil Woolas boldly declared that deaths would be the result if detention centres such as Dungavel were closed. Woolas said yesterday that such closures would mean that families and children would end up dead aboard lorries in Calais through the bolstering of the international human trafficking trade.

The Minister stated that this was the horrible reality that faced the modern world, one in which failed asylum seekers and their children and families were required to be held under lock and key in order to prevent the human trafficking organisations from succeeding. Not placing such people in detention centres would send out signals that the British government was being soft on immigration and would only serve to encourage further trafficking.

Woolas’s claims came in the wake of the controversial case of the 10-year-old Malawian girl Precious Mhango, who is currently in detention after living in Scotland for most of her life. The UK Government has attempted to remove Precious from the country on several occasions only to be blocked by welfare and human rights group on each occasion.

The government has stated that there is no reason for the pair to remain in the UK and that their detention is to prevent them from going to ground. Dungavel has housed 109 children in the past year ahead of their forced deportation.

The Scottish Government, which is opposed to child detention, lashed out as Woolas and told him to stop lecturing them about their immigration policy. Woolas in turn responded by calling SNP moves to increase immigration naive and suggested that the politicians instead should focus on improving the local workforce skills base.