Zia Yusuf has demanded an end to taxpayer-funded legal representation for migrants who enter Britain illegally or overstay their visas in a crackdown on fraudulent asylum claims.
Speaking to GB News, the Reform UK Home Affairs Spokesman revealed that £135million in legal aid has been provided to such individuals over the past six-and-a-half years, with the majority allocated during the Conservative Government’s tenure.
“It is insane that British taxpayers have to pay money to people who broke into the country so that they can fight their removal,” Mr Yusuf stated.
The policy announcement follows a BBC documentary that exposed widespread coaching of asylum seekers to submit fraudulent applications, prompting Reform UK to outline measures targeting what Mr Yusuf described as an “illegal migration industrial complex”.
The party’s second major proposal would criminalise any assistance provided to asylum seekers making fraudulent claims, with Mr Yusuf calling for this to be established as a “strict liability offence”.
Under such legislation, prosecutors would not need to demonstrate that advisers or legal professionals intended to facilitate fraud, mirroring existing obligations placed on law firms and accountants regarding financial crimes such as tax evasion and bribery.
“If we do that, number one, the people you saw in that programme, to the degree they continue to do it, they will end up in jail, lawyer or otherwise,” Mr Yusuf explained.
He added that the measure would establish genuine deterrence, ensuring that nobody profits from defrauding the British public through the asylum system.
Zia Yusuf has outlined Reform UK’s plans to make it a criminal offence to aid and abet asylum fraud in the UK
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Mr Yusuf expressed shock at the BBC investigation, which he said vividly demonstrated how asylum applicants and illegal migrants are being systematically coached to deceive British authorities.
He told GB News: “It is shocking to see a BBC documentary showcasing very vividly that asylum applicants, illegal migrants are being coached by this illegal migration industrial complex that exists in this country, to defraud the British people systematically on things like not just falsely claiming to be gay.
“But also, as the BBC have published this morning, appallingly, some of these so-called advisers have been telling their clients to fraudulently and falsely claim they have been victims of domestic abuse, which means they’re also ruining somebody else’s life in the process. It’s absolutely disgusting.”
Mr Yusuf questioned why no arrests had been made following the documentary’s revelations, challenging viewers to consider how many individuals featured in the programme had faced criminal investigation.
Migrants are pretending to be gay to try and claim asylum in the UK
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PA“To my knowledge, the answer is zero, because the state turns a blind eye not just to the industrial scale abuse of the asylum system, but also these lawyers and advisers who make a killing,” he said.
The Reform UK spokesman highlighted the brazenness with which these services are marketed, pointing out that the BBC had little difficulty obtaining footage of advisers openly promoting fraudulent schemes.
“There are large sums of money these people are making by actively advertising fraud.
“Think of how open they are being in advertising this,” Yusuf remarked, criticising the apparent impunity enjoyed by those profiting from asylum fraud.
Mr Yusuf told GB News that asylum seekers making false claims is ‘absolutely disgusting’
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GB NEWS
The investigation, conducted by the BBC, uncovered that one legal practice was charging as much as £7,000 to pursue a fabricated asylum application, assuring clients that the likelihood of Home Office rejection was “very low”.
Fraudulent applicants were found to be attending GP appointments for depression to secure medical documentation supporting their cases, with one individual even falsely claiming to be HIV positive.
One immigration adviser reportedly bragged about spending over 17 years facilitating bogus claims, and offered to arrange for someone to pose as having had a homosexual relationship with a client.
The Home Office responded to the findings by stating: “Anyone found trying to exploit the system will face the full force of the law, including removal from the UK.”