Channel migrants held at a former military base could receive millions of pounds of compensation, it has been revealed.
Close to 200 people have lodged legal claims against the Home Office for their treatment at the Manston processing centre in Kent.
It is alleged they were "unlawfully" detained in "inhumane" conditions, according to The Telegraph.
Allegations include sexual assaults, physical abuse, unclean conditions and outbreaks of diseases.
Asylum seekers could receive compensation of £500 for each 24 hours they spent in unlawful detention.
However, courts can hand out even larger sums and the Home Office has so far refused to settle the cases.
The former RAF base is used by the Home Office to process migrants who arrive in Britain by small boat.
In 2022, it was reported that the facility was overcrowded, with some asylum seekers spending weeks there rather than the couple of days it would normally take to process them.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
The site is used as a short-term processing centre for migrants
|PA
In February of this year, it was confirmed a public inquiry had been launched into events that took place at the centre between June and November 2022, including the conditions encountered and the treatment of those held there.
The probe was first approved under the former Tory government.
Upon announcing the inquiry, then Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle said it would look at the “decisions, actions and circumstances which led to” the conditions at Manston and examine whether there are “lessons to be learned” regarding the Home Office’s handling of the incident.
The situation at Manston was said to have reached a low point in 2022 when concerns of overcrowding at the site were raised.
Almost 1,100 small boat migrants crossed the Channel on Saturday
|GETTY
The site has a 1,600-person capacity but was holding 4,000 people in November that year.
Lawyers representing asylum seekers at the centre said they faced “egregious conditions”, including “instances of humiliation”, that affected their “personal hygiene and wellbeing”.
A Home Office spokesman said: “It would be inappropriate to comment while the inquiry into events at Manston between June and November 2022, and any related litigation, are ongoing.”
Manston is used as a short-term processing centre, however, the Government has said it is considering the use of military sites as "temporary" accommodation.
Defence minister Luke Pollard said on Monday that the potential use of Ministry of Defence (MoD) bases to house asylum seekers could support plans to end the use of asylum hotels, which Labour has pledged to achieve by 2029.
He told Sky News the MoD had deployed military planning teams into the Home Office: “To look not only at what contribution we can make to security, but also how we can stand up military and non-military sites for the building of temporary accommodation, adequate accommodation, that will enable us to close even more asylum hotels".
It comes as rescue services faced chaotic scenes in the English Channel today, as a female migrant died and dozens of others were rescued.
A mayday call was issued just before 2pm after one migrant boat got into difficulties just as it arrived in UK waters.
Maritime sources told GB News a "significant number" of migrants ended up falling overboard and into the Channel.
On Saturday, a total of 1,097 migrants travelled on small boats to Britain.