❓WHAT HAPPENED: A whistleblower at Britain’s Home Office, roughly equivalent to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has revealed that migrants charged with serious crimes, including sex offences, are being granted asylum.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: A Home Office caseworker, Afghan asylum seekers, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, and Home Office officials.

📍WHEN & WHERE: The allegations have surfaced amidst an ongoing review of the British asylum system in 2025.

💬KEY QUOTE: “I said: ‘I’m refusing. He’s a wrong ’un.’ And my senior manager said we can’t refuse an Afghan, we’ve got to grant.” – Home Office whistleblower.

🎯IMPACT: The whistleblower’s revelations underline the systemic issues in the British asylum process, with soaring application numbers and concerns over public safety.

A whistleblower at Britain’s Home Office, roughly equivalent to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has revealed that migrants accused of serious crimes, including sexual offenses, are being granted asylum in Britain. The caseworker stated that officials are approving asylum applications from migrants who have committed or been accused of crimes that would attract a prison sentence of less than 12 months if committed in Britain.

The whistleblower said she faced disciplinary action after refusing the asylum application of an Afghan man accused of repeatedly exposing himself in a children’s play area. “I said: ‘I’m refusing. He’s a wrong ’un.’ And my senior manager said we can’t refuse an Afghan, we’ve got to grant,” she said. “I was refusing that man because… I believed he posed a threat to children, but he was never going to receive a jail sentence for indecent exposure, he was just getting repeated warnings.”

She also revealed that caseworkers are being pressured to approve more claims, with applications from some countries, such as Sudan and Eritrea, being fast-tracked with less scrutiny. She described the situation as “lose-lose” for staff, saying employees are caught between pressure from senior officials and public criticism over excessively generous decisions.

The revelations come as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood prepares to announce reforms to the asylum system, including stricter rules for migrants with criminal records and measures which will supposedly prevent people using human rights laws to avoid deportation as often as they do at present. Mahmood, of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, has acknowledged that the Home Office is “not yet fit for purpose.”

Asylum claims in the United Kingdom have reached record highs, with 111,000 applications submitted in the year to June 2025, a 14 percent rise compared with the previous year. In the same period, 37,000 migrants arrived in Britain by small boat alone, an increase of 17 percent on 2024.

The financial burden of accommodating asylum seekers has also drawn criticism. Reports have estimated that housing asylum seekers costs UK taxpayers around £15 million every day, with many placed in hotels due to shortages of permanent accommodation. Hundreds of migrants living in taxpayer-funded hotels have been charged with serious offences, including rape and assault.

In one case, the government reportedly paid more than $600 to a convicted pedophile migrant, previously released from prison in error, to persuade him to cooperate with his deportation.

Image by Lauren Hurley / No 10 Downing Street.

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