Would-be Rwanda migrants detained at removal centres are stripped of their ... trends now
Migrants who are being taken to removal centres before their flights to Rwanda are having smartphones taken away and replaced with 'brick' phones.
The system has been put in place to stop asylum seekers accessing saved contacts and their WhatsApp messages, as well as internet access.
It is believed the move will limit the chances of migrants being able to find out information about charities or law firms that could help them appeal against their detention.
However, charities such as Care4Calais have attempted to get around the rules by handing out leaflets to illegal migrants that include contact details including phone numbers so detainees can still contact them.
Despite the ban more than 120 asylum seekers have contacted charities who are forwarding them on to lawyers who could help them launch legal challenges, The Telegraph reports.
A migrant is taken into custody by immigration officials ahead of the first deportation flights to Rwanda
A Border Force patrol vessel brings a group of migrants found in the English Channel ashore in the Port of Dover on April 29
An inflatable dinghy carrying a group of migrants wearing lifejackets travels through the water in the English Channel on Saturday
It is claimed that those who do appeal will try to obtain bail and argue that deporting them to Rwanda puts them in harms way.
The boss of one refugee charity has hit out at the ban on smartphones, arguing that it 'degrades' the ability of detainees to communicate as they are unable to access their contacts list.
Steve Smith, chief executive of Care4Calais, told The Telegraph: 'They cannot perform a search function to track down those who might help them, such as charities like ourselves, or law firms.
'They become isolated from the latest news. For example, they won't hear about protests in their support.'
He added that brick phones do not work in non-English languages, making it difficult for people who only speak Arabic to communicate as their is no translate function which 'isolates the detainee'.
Mr Smith said: 'Their level of distress cannot be overemphasised. The removal of their smartphones is simply adding to the sense of shock and trauma.'
The Home Office told the publication that people moved into removal centres are given 'basic' phones for 'safety and security' reasons that allow them to have limited access to the internet on a
