THE SNP have issued an urgent invitation to Home Secretary Sajid Javid to visit Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre – after damning new evidence showed children and pregnant women were being held there.
SNP MSP Linda Fabiani, a long-term campaigner for the closure of Dungavel, has invited Javid to visit the facility and hear from human rights groups, local politicians and detainees.
The UK Government vowed to end the detention of under-18s at Dungavel almost 10 years ago, but it has been revealed at least 20 children and six pregnant women have been held at the privately-run detention centre since 2016.
Fabiani said: “This is the harsh reality of the Tories ‘hostile environment’ – children and pregnant women held behind barbed wire, in a facility which is entirely unsuitable for vulnerable people.
“The UK Government must stop detaining children and pregnant women at Dungavel – and they must do so now. Innocent families, women and children shouldn’t be detained like this, especially given it’s a decade since the Home Office promised to end the barbaric practice of detaining children.”
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