A Somalian migrant living at the controversial Bell Hotel in Epping has thanked Sir Keir Starmer ‘from the bottom’ of his heart after winning the right to stay in Britain.
Khadar Mohamed will be leaving the Essex hotel next month and will move to Bradford, Yorkshire, after winning his asylum battle.
The 24-year-old, who travelled from Somalia to the UK on a small boat, has claimed ‘many, many more’ will follow suit.
He also said he believes plans for a ‘one-in, one-out’ scheme with France to crackdown on boat crossings is doomed to ‘failure’.
He told The Daily Mail: ‘I have been told in the last two weeks that I have won my right to stay. I have been granted leave on human rights grounds.
‘I leave the hotel in the middle of October. It is great news.
‘I am glad the Government has supported me. I want to thank Keir Starmer from the bottom of my heart.
‘I believe many, many more of us will also be allowed to stay. Many in the hotel are going through the same situation and I believe they will also win.’
The Home Office refused to comment on the case.
Khadar believes Brits are ‘coming around to the fact’ migrants are staying, adding: ‘I want to work, I want to contribute.
‘It is not our fault. If they are not happy with the system, then it is the system which needs to change. We are not the problem.’
Reacting to Labour’s ‘one-in, one-out’ migrant deportation system to France, which was thwarted amid last-minute legal challenges, he said: ‘They need to do it properly.
‘This scheme has not worked already. It has failed. The plan to take asylum seekers to Rwanda did not work.
‘A lot of time and millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is being spent on this. Let us stay. I want to work and contribute.
‘I love Britain. People need to calm down. We are not bad people.’
Khadar added: ‘We’ve been through a lot to get to Britain. I don’t think this plan will work.’
It comes after a Eritrean man was yesterday told he would be deported after losing a battle to stay – when he claimed he was a victim of trafficking.
Another, however, will not be deported to France under the Government’s ‘one in, one out’ policy after he this week won his bid to have the removal temporarily blocked.
The Eritrean man took his case to the High Court, claiming he would be ‘destitute’ if the Home Office sends him back to France.
The human rights claim – which was the first challenge to reach court over the UK-France deal – has put the Government under renewed pressure after two removals flights failed to go ahead.
Mr Justice Sheldon said he was granting an interim injunction which would bar the Home Office from deporting the Eritrean man for 14 days.
The first migrant was successfully deported back to France on Thursday.Labour’s bid to deport small boat migrants back to France is already at risk of turning to farce after two deportation flights were blocked amid last-minute legal challenges.
An attempt to remove one migrant aboard an Air France flight from Heathrow to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport was abandoned yesterday, followed by another today.
The passenger flight went ahead without any people who crossed the Channel on board and is thought to be one which the Home Office has booked seats on.
It comes amid a series of demonstrations against asylum seekers being housed in The Bell Hotel, which were sparked by the sexual assault of a girl by a resident, who has since been found guilty.
More recently, Epping District Council announced it would take its case to shut down the Bell Hotel to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal overturned a temporary High Court injunction which would have forced the 138 asylum seekers there to leave by September 12.
In recent weeks, several people have been arrested as protests outside the migrant hotel continued.
