Manston migrant centre now empty as backlog moved to hotels

Migrants held at Kent processing facility has been wound down

The Manston immigration short-term holding facility in Thanet, Kent. PA

All migrants have been moved from the Manston migrant processing centre in Kent and it is now completely empty after concerns it had become dangerously overcrowded.

The site is meant to house those who have recently crossed the Channel into the UK but all have now been moved to hotels, Home Office sources confirmed.

The facility is still open and will continue to be used as needed to carry out initial checks on arriving migrants.

At its peak earlier this month, 4,000 people were being housed at the site — at least double its 1,600-person capacity — in what was branded as a “breach of humane conditions”.

Since then, numbers have gradually declined as people were moved out of the site.

“Manston, by design, is meant to be a temporary holding facility, where people are processed before moving on — normally, fairly quickly,” said the prime minister’s official spokesman.

“Obviously there were immediate challenges, particularly after the attack at the other centre, which caused numbers to spike, so you would expect numbers to be relatively low on a daily basis as people are moved through quickly.”

In December, an attacker carried out a petrol bombing on a British immigration border force facility in Dover.

Migrants at immigration processing centre in Manston — in pictures

A person gestures through a fence at the immigration processing centre in Manston, Kent in southern England. Reuters

Security staff work to cover the view of people thought to be migrants in the Manston centre. PA

An aerial view of the facility in Manston. PA

Seven hundred people were moved to the centre for safety reasons after incendiary devices were thrown at a Border Force migrant centre in Dover on Sunday. Reuters

A man holds up a baby in the immigration processing centre. Reuters

A woman at the Manston centre. Reuters

A tent inside the processing centre. Reuters

The entrance to the Manston immigration holding facility. AP

More than 42,000 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year after crossing the Channel, provisional government figures show.

No journeys have been recorded by the Ministry of Defence for the past seven days amid bad weather.

It comes as a man died in hospital after being held at the processing centre.

It is thought he crossed the Channel on November 12 before being taken to Manston.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said there was no evidence at this stage to suggest the death was caused by an infectious disease and it is suspected the man was already unwell before he came to the UK.

A postmortem is due to be carried out and the case has been referred to the Prison and Probation Ombudsman and the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

But the police watchdog said it had reviewed the case and will not be investigating as it “does not have the jurisdiction” to do so and the matter does “not fall under our remit”.

Migrant crossings on the English Channel surge amid heatwave — in pictures

The number of migrants crossing the English Channel from northern Europe has reached record-breaking figures as people in Britain are experiencing an exceptionally hot summer. PA

A lady carries a toddler to a bus after a group of people thought to be migrants were brought in to Dover, Kent, on the south-east English coast. PA

A group of migrants are brought in to Ramsgate, Kent, on August 1 - the day on which almost 700 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK in a single day, a record for the year so far. PA

It was only the second time in 2022 that the daily figure has topped 600. PA

A woman carries a newborn baby in a life cradle as she is brought in to Dover on a Border Force vessel in July. PA

About 3,683 migrants made the crossing on 90 boats in July, the highest monthly total this year. PA

A warehouse in Dover for boats used by people trying to cross the Channel. PA

Migrants hold up an inflatable boat before attempting to cross the Channel to Britain, near the northern French city of Gravelines, in July. AFP

A police officer stands guard on the beach at Dungeness, England, as migrants get off a lifeboat after they were picked up at sea in June. AFP

A group of people thought to be migrants walk up the beach after being brought in to Dungeness in May. AP

Migrants on the beach at Dungeness, after crossing the English Channel in an inflatable dinghy in January. Reuters

The former military airfield near Ramsgate has been dogged by controversy over the past few weeks, with ministers coming under fire over conditions.

Last month, chief inspector of borders and immigration David Neal told MPs he was left “speechless” by the “wretched” conditions at the site and laid bare the scale of the overcrowding chaos when he warned Manston was already past the point of being unsafe.

The facility is designed to hold migrants for a maximum of 24 hours but stays of up to five days are permitted in exceptional circumstances.

Does the UK have a migrant crisis? — video

But Mr Neal described how he had met families who had been living there for a month and had to sleep on the floor of a marquee.

A week later, chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor called on the Home Office to “get a grip” on the problems at the site and said the government department and its contractors must “speed up the processing of migrants so people can be moved off the site as quickly as possible”.

Cases of diphtheria — a highly contagious infection that can prove fatal if not treated quickly — had also been reported at Manston.