CHURCH LEADERS SLAM IMMIGRATION MINISTER

The Archbishop of York and an interdenominational church spokesman for migrants have united in condemning recent remarks made by immigration minister Phil Woolas. Earlier this month, Mr Woolas said ‘The [asylum] system is played by migration lawyers and NGOs to the nth degree. By giving false hope and by undermining the legal system, [they] actually cause more harm than they do good.’ Archbishop John Sentamu branded the remarks ‘unmerciful’ and said the UK ‘must show a better way’ at a time when Zimbabwe’s citizens are tortured and subjected to inhumane treatment. Mentioning the example of a sick Ghanaian woman who died shortly after she was deported, he said, ‘the separation of religion, morality and law has gone too far’. Revd Arlington Trotman, moderator for the Churches Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) said Mr Woolas had ‘passed judgment on a very complex area … without first taking sufficient time to understand the complexities and sensitivities of immigration’.

Source: Daily Telegraph (28/11)