Labour could open up a second front in small boat crisis with migrants heading to Diego Garcia - Kevin Foster

Diego Garcia is a 12 square mile island in the Indian Ocean, home to a major US and UK Military Base. Its status is controversial, it is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), but Mauritius also claims sovereignty.

Alongside this dispute, the expulsion of the Chagossian People from the island back in the 1960s and 70s to create the military base is a shameful part of our history. Yet these points are not the reason this Island could play a big part in the small boat's crisis.

In years gone by its remote location meant it had not been seen as a potential entry point, then in October 2021, a fishing boat was spotted struggling near its coast.

The boat contained 89 Tamils hoping, unrealistically, to reach Canada. They were brought ashore and not long afterwards requested asylum.

This was an unprecedented move on the island, the BIOT Authorities did not even have a system for processing such claims.

Given the presence of a sensitive military base the US Authorities were very keen for the problem to be resolved quickly, so the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence quickly came up with a solution: Make it a problem for the Home Office by flying them to the UK.

Unsurprisingly this suggestion was quickly blocked by Home Office Ministers!

I can recall an initial meeting where the Foreign Office could not understand the objections from the Home Office. Yet it was clear to anyone with experience of migration issues that once one group had discovered this way to the UK others would follow.

Whilst this was dismissed as unlikely by the Foreign Office, the Home Office predictions quickly came true as more arrived and tried to claim asylum based on hopes of transfer to the UK.

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Since 2021 the arguments about what to do with the arrivals have continued. All agree Diego Garcia is not a place to set up a permanent home, so a temporary camp is present on the island, with those who arrived housed there.

Some of the migrants who needed medical treatment were taken to Rwanda, not the UK, to avoid a precedent being set of ending up in the UK having arrived in BIOT by boat. In July it was reported the US military refused permission for the BIOT Supreme Court to have access as some of the migrants appealed asylum refusals.

Now there are rumours the Foreign Office is again, under Labour, pressing for the solution to be flying migrants to the UK from Diego Garcia.

Returns to their native Sri Lanka are possible but, as they all claim to be Tamils, human rights lawyers are busy trying to block this, with no chance Labour would overrule any judgements to do so.

A safe third country could be an option yet given the new Labour Government has just dumped the only agreement we had with one, Rwanda, it will be hard to get another to agree.

It may seem “simple” to just fly the group to the UK and let them claim asylum here. Yet if Labour does it, they will open a second front in the small boat's crisis.

Boats heading to BIOT, would join dinghies crossing the Channel as the most visible immigration challenge.