Judge: UK broke law by housing refugees in run-down barracks

Britain’s High Court has ruled that the government broke the law when it housed asylum-seekers in overcrowded, run-down conditions in a disused army barracks

LONDON -- Britain’s High Court ruled Thursday that the Conservative government broke the law when it housed asylum-seekers in overcrowded, run-down conditions in a disused army barracks. Hundreds of migrants who crossed the English Channel in small boats have been sent to Napier Barracks in southeast England since September, despite a warning from public health authorities that it was unsuitable. A refugee charity said residents at the barracks faced “freezing cold” conditions over the winter and the government said almost 200 had tested positive for COVID-19 during an outbreak earlier this year. In January there were disturbances and a fire at the facility. Six asylum-seekers challenged the British government in court, arguing that conditions at the barracks posed “real and immediate risks to life and of ill-treatment.”