A bishop has attacked Suella Braverman after she said churches were fueling false asylum claims.
Ms Braverman said that during her time as Home Secretary she “became aware of churches across the country”. facilitating false asylum applications on an industrial scale“, with migrants “being directed to these churches as a one-stop shop to support their asylum case.”
She made her comments in The Telegraph amid a feud over Abdul Ezedi35-year-old refugee suspected of being behind Clapham chemical attack who was granted asylum on his third attempt, with the support of a priest, after claiming he had converted to Christianity and that he would be persecuted in his native Afghanistan.
While the Interior Ministry is responsible for checking the criminal records and security of asylum seekers, religious institutions are increasingly scrutinized over the legitimacy of those who wish to convert.
The Church of England has rejected Ms Braverman’s criticism, with the Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, writing in the Telegraph on Monday: “We are not politicians, and we know that participating in a political debate can be deadly.
“But those who have claimed a link between the abuses of our asylum system and the action of the bishops in Parliament are simply wrong.
“It is saddening to see this implied by former senior ministerial office holders, who had the opportunity but did not seek to raise these concerns with senior clergy before. »
The “not responsible” Church
Dr Francis-Dehqani, who will become the senior bishop for immigration later in February, denied the Church was in any way responsible for the converted asylum seekers’ criminal pasts.
She said: “Churches have no power to circumvent the Government’s duty to vet and approve applications – the responsibility for this lies with the Home Office. »
The bishop also denied that the Church’s support for asylum seekers’ claims amounted to a “magic ticket” to enter the UK, adding that the idea that a person can be “fast-tracked in the asylum system, aided and abetted by the Church” is simply incorrect.
Writing in the Telegraph this weekend, Ms Braverman questioned the role of clergy in conversions to Islam, saying: “Attend mass once a week for a few months, make friends with the vicar, write the date of your baptism in the diary and, bingo, you be certified by a member of the clergy that you are now a God-fearing Christian who will face some persecution if returned to your home Islamic country . This has to stop. »
According to Home Office guidance for officials making asylum decisions about Christian converts, “ultimately, evidence, even from a senior member of the Church, is not determinative “.
Ezedi’s friends told the Telegraph last week that he remained a “good Muslim” who bought half a Halal sheep every fortnight despite his apparent conversion.
On Monday, an evangelical church leader said priests should look for “red flags” during the baptism of asylum seekers because some pretended to convert.
Pastor Graham Nicholls, director of Affinity, a network of 1,200 evangelical churches and ministries in the UK, said church leaders “need discernment” to “test whether people are authentic in their beliefs”, adding that in some cases potential converts were “pretending”.
Excessive eagerness for baptism
He said “red flags” may consist of large numbers of people presenting themselves as converts, an excessive haste on the part of people to receive a credible sign of being Christian such as baptism, a “rather mechanical assent to be believed but without any obvious change of heart” and a general feeling that they might not be genuine.
He acknowledged that “these things are difficult to judge” and that “we cannot see into people’s souls”, but added: “There seems to be a problem of asylum seekers claiming to have been converted to Christianity to support their request. »
On Monday, Met detectives said they arrested and released on bail a 22-year-old man on suspicion of assisting an offender as the manhunt continued. Police added that the mother Ezédi is suspected of having been doused with a corrosive liquid, she risks losing the sight in her right eye.
Ezedi arrived in the UK illegally on the back of a truck in 2016, claiming his life would be in danger if he was returned to Afghanistan.
Although he was convicted of a sex offense two years later, he successfully applied for asylum. He was granted permission to stay in 2021 or 2022 on his third attempt after a priest vouched for his conversion, arguing he was “fully committed” to his new religion.
A spokesperson for the Church of England previously said: “It is the role of the Home Office, not the Church, to examine asylum seekers and judge the merits of of their individual case. »
Home Office sources said all asylum applications were carefully considered on their individual merits, in line with immigration rules.
They said the UK was proud to have welcomed those genuinely fleeing religious persecution. Case officers have been trained to be able to establish the credibility of claims about religious beliefs, so that protection is only given to those who truly need it, they said.
