UK govt under fire for ‘wretched’ migrant center conditions

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s interior minister is defending the government’s treatment of newly arrived migrants after critics blamed her for the “wretched” conditions endured by thousands of people at an overcrowded center for asylum-seekers. Hundreds of people who had crossed the English Channel in small boats have been moved to Manston, a former airfield in southeast England, after another processing center was hit with gasoline bombs on Sunday. There already were 3,000 people at the facility, which is intended to hold about half that number. Home Secretary Suella Braverman told lawmakers Monday that officials were “working tirelessly to improve facilities” for asylum-seekers. But the right-wing politician also referred to small-boat crossings as “the invasion of our southern coast.”