seekers

The minister rejected a Liberal Democrat calls to scrap the ban on asylum seekers working if they have waited more than three months for a decision.

"There’s a feeling in both parties that as a city we’ve done more than anyone to provide support for asylum seekers."

A mob attacked the Holiday Inn Express hotel in Tamworth, which was housing asylum seekers.

That has sometimes led to allowing asylum seekers into the country while they await court dates with immigration judges, a practice critics deride as “catch and release.”

Last week a Rome court ordered the transfer of seven Egyptian and Bangladeshi asylum seekers from one of the two centres to Italy.