Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Robert Jenrick has banned charities from giving asylum seekers clothes, haircuts and legal help.
Internal emails, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and seen by i, reveal the instructions came directly from Mr Jenrick’s office.
This year he was criticised after telling staff at an asylum reception centre to paint over wall art depicting Mickey Mouse, designed to provide a “welcoming” atmosphere for children.
The emails, initially obtained by Care4Calais, have had names redacted but the Home Office and Clearsprings Ready Homes appear to accuse Care4Calais of “encouraging” asylum seekers to “complain” about their housing conditions and “speak to the media”.
Care4Calais is a vocal critic of the Home Office over its immigration policies. It brought a legal challenge against the Government over its Rwanda policy in 2022 and has criticised policies such as the Illegal Migration Act, which will mean those who cross the Channel in a small boat cannot claim asylum in the UK.
Just two days prior to the email barring it from Napier Barracks, asylum seekers at RAF Wethersfield in Essex staged a protest at which Care4Calais said it attended to check on their wellbeing.
Robert Jenrick has barred a leading refugee charity from offering help to asylum seekers at a Home Office accommodation centre over claims the charity encouraged people to “complain” and talk to journalists, it has emerged.
The order from the immigration minister was uncovered when Care4Calais made a freedom of information request to the Home Office after their teams were banned from the Napier barracks site in Kent. Earlier this year Jenrick ordered a reception centre for child migrants to paint over its cartoon murals.
Care4Calais, which began helping asylum seekers in the unofficial migrant camps of the northern French port, has been a regular critic of government immigration policies. Its teams had worked with asylum seekers at Napier for several years but it was told in late September by Clearsprings Ready Homes, the contractor which runs the site for the Home Office, that it was no longer permitted to do so.
Among the services Care4Calais offered at Napier were legal clinics, advice on filling out forms and assistance for asylum seekers facing potential deportation to Rwanda.
The charity has previously been blocked from providing services such as haircuts and clothing to asylum seekers at another site, the former RAF Wethersfield base in Essex, where some people living there staged a protest in late September about the conditions they faced.
Care4Calais believed the ban could be connected to a Home Office perception that their advice had partly prompted the protest, and so submitted a freedom of information request.
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