Cardinal Vincent Nichols has branded the Government’s decision to backtrack on the number of unaccompanied child refugees being allowed into the UK as “truly shocking.”
"By repealing Art. 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, known as the Dubs Amendment, the Government is seen by many as abandoning its statutory and moral duty to take effective action for the protection of vulnerable, unaccompanied child refugees. If this is the case, then it is truly shocking, said the Archbishop of Westminster in a statement released on 11 February.
Politicians and campaigners originally called for 3,000 children to be transferred under Labour peer Lord Alf Dubs’ amendment to the immigration act. The Home Office has announced their intention to cap this number at just 350.
Last year, 900 children were resettled in the UK through the Dubs amendment and other schemes, read the cardinal’s statement. Yet, he added, the “need is evidently far greater”.
“I ask the Home Secretary to review urgently the decision and to honour the original intention behind the Dubs Amendment,” he added.
The cardinal also urged parishes to join the Community Sponsorship Scheme, in which local groups take responsibility for finding a house for a refugee family, along with offering practical help and advice.
Charities and groups working with unaccompanied child refugees have also condemned the Government’s decision.
"The sudden announcement of a low cap of 350 on the number of youngsters is extremely disappointing and amounts to less than one per local authority,” said Phil Kerton, CEO of Seeking Sanctuary which works with Secours Catholique in Calais offering food, clothing and basic medical help to refugees.
Kerton added that Lord Dubs states that the number of children to be resettled is determined by the Government in consultation with local authorities. There is no mention of an 'end-date' to the scheme and no details about consultations have been made public.
"The scheme should remain open and the list of places available from local authorities should be reviewed,” he told Independent Catholic News.
Cathy Corcoran, director of the Cardinal Hume Centre, said: "As one of the organisations that currently provides accommodation and support for Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking children (UASCs), we regret the decision to halt the programme. In our experience these are extremely vulnerable children who are in desperate need of the kind of sanctuary Britain should be able - and proud - to provide."
An online petition condemning the closure of the Dubs scheme – which has attracted nearly 53,000 signatures – has been delivered to Prime Minister Theresa May on 11 February.
Addressing a crowd of campaigners who gathered outside of Downing Street as the petition was presented, Lord Dubs repeated the words of Nicholas Winton, who organised the evacuation of hundreds of Jewish children including Dubs himself from Prague in 1939, saying: “If it’s not impossible, there must be a way.”
He added: “We want the government to change their minds. The Government has said they don’t want to take more than 350 in total under the amendment. I think that’s a very shabby cop-out. I believe that there are thousands of unaccompanied child refugees suffering greatly in Greece, Italy and some in France.
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