The Asylum Merry-go Round Must Stop

An APPEAL Court judge yesterday condemned the immigration ‘merry-go-round’ that allowed an asylum seeker to stay in Britain for more than a decade.

The Pakistani was allowed to make 16 appeals or new applications despite being repeatedly rejected, at a cost to taxpayers of at least £250,000.

Lord Justice Ward: ‘Here we have one of those whirligig cases where an asylum seeker goes up and down on the merry-go-round leaving one wondering when the music will ever stop. It is a typical case where asylum was refused years ago but endless fresh claims clog the process of removal.’

The 38-year-old man, whose identity was hidden by the court, arrived in Britain in August 1998. The Court of Appeal rejected his latest appeal – over the High Court’s decision to reject his demand for judicial review of a decision to remove him – and ruled he should now be returned to Pakistan.

Lord Justice Ward said: ‘It is time the music stopped and the merry-go-round stops turning.’

The Daily Mail