Home Office contractors stationed at Manston to process small boat arrivals are being bussed to Europe’s largest immigration detention centre to plug a significant staff shortage, the Guardian has learned.
Heathrow immigration removal centre, next to the airport, has such a big shortage of guards that an agreement has been made with the outsourcing company Mitie to redeploy Home Office contractors from Manston, in Kent, on days when there are no small boat crossings. The shortages come at a time when the Home Office wants to expand detention tenfold as part of the new Illegal Migration Act.
