Asylum rules branded 'inhumane'

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Hundreds of failed asylum seekers are living rough on the streets of Wales because of strict Home Office rules a charity has said.

The Welsh Refugee Council has told BBC Wales' Dragon's Eye programme that the system is "inhumane and inefficient".

If a bid to stay in the UK is turned down rules state that benefits and support are withdrawn.

Immigration officials have insisted those who refuse to leave have put themselves outside state support.

Ibrahim, 22, told the programme how he had fled the Darfur war in Sudan which had claimed the lives of both his mother and father.

"Bad life"

After his asylum bid failed he spent eight months homeless, forced to seek shelter where he could, including Cardiff city's bus station.

He told how he walked for five or more hours to get out of Sudan before arriving in Britain in a lorry.

"It is difficult to come here, you are in the lorry for six or seven hours," he explained.

"There's no food, no water, not toilet - it's a bad life.

"I don't have house, I don't have money, I don't have anything."

The Home Office policy is directly forcing people into destitution Anna Nichol, Welsh Refugee Council

Asked one night by a passer-by while sleeping rough in Cardiff bus station he told the person: "If you want to take me to prison, I will sleep in prison - it has a bed."

Anna Nichol from the Welsh Refugee Council said the blame for the plight facing many failed asylum seekers lies squarely with the UK government.

"The reason why people are being forced into homelessness is a direct result of Home Office policy." she insisted.

"It is not something where people are falling through the net or where policy hasn't yet had the chance to react to the situation on the ground.

"The Home Office policy is directly forcing people into destitution."

"Not moral"

Many of those affected by the strict rules on withdrawing benefit said they are too scared or simply cannot return to their own country.

The Welsh Refugee Council has described the policy of withdrawing benefits as "not moral" and has also questioned whether it is an effective way of encouraging people to leave Britain.

"Where people go underground and are cut off from any government support, that cuts of contact from government agencies and makes it much more expensive and difficult to remove people," added Ms Nichol.

However, Jane Farley, the director of the Home Office's immigration service in Wales, told BBC Wales: "There is full support and protection for those that need it, but those who are found to have no valid ground to stay are expected to leave the UK."

In the meantime, Ibrahim has found temporary accommodation but insisted he did not want to return to his home country.

"When I go back, maybe the government arrests me again, puts me in prison, or maybe kills me," he said.

"If someone wants to take me to Sudan, they better kill me here and take me back."