Six staff members speak of new arrivals’ exhaustion and ill-health and colleagues’ indifference to their plight
When asylum seekers first arrive at Manston, a former military base outside Ramsgate in Kent, they are ushered from one enormous, grubby marquee to the next for a series of interviews and checks.
As many as 1,000 people a day are processed at the site after crossing the Channel in small boats, and interviews continue through the night. Upon arrival in the UK, exhausted and disorientated, their phones and other belongings are taken from them and placed in distinctive blue plastic bags.
Signs flash up on TV screens in various languages. “You have entered the UK illegally from a safe country, France. As a result you will not be able to obtain citizenship. You will not be able to settle in the UK.”
People are only supposed to stay at Manston for 24 hours before being released to hotels, but some stay longer.
