Hearing asylum seeker stories at Dungavel made ministers 'cry'

Listening to detainees in an immigration removal centre share their harrowing stories made Kirk ministers cry.

Rev Bryan Kerr described Dungavel House as a "grim and horrible" place and people are frightened and fearful for their futures because they have no idea what will happen to them after they are deported from the UK.

The minister was part of a delegation that recently visited the facility in a rural location near Strathaven in South Lanarkshire with the immediate past Moderator of the General Assembly, Very Rev Sally Foster-Fulton.

Mr Kerr, minister of Greyfriars Parish Church in Lanark, spoke out at the General Assembly, which passed a series of deliverances aimed at protecting asylum seekers and refugees.

The Church issued a fresh call for the establishment of safe and legal routes to the UK because no one willingly crosses dangerous seas and pays money to human traffickers.

The current UK Government policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda was described as "inhumane" and political leaders and media institutions were urged to avoid the use of dehumanising and hostile language.

Fear

Mr Kerr said: "I didn't know much about Dungavel until I walked through the gates.

"We would have much rather been on the other side of the fence being lifted for saying ‘not in our name'.

"But going in gave us the opportunity to speak with staff who are trying their best to care for those being detained and in their care.

"Staff whom we saw going above and beyond, trying to make that place as supportive as possible with video calls home and to lawyers."

Mr Kerr said a different picture began to emerge when the delegation met detainees and heard the story of their lives.

"It is a grim and horrible place to be," added the minister.

"People are frightened and sad, not understanding where they might be in a few days time."

Pain

Mr Kerr said the delegation worshipped, read scripture and prayed with detainees.

"We got to know some of them, just a little bit, and I do not think there were any of us there during that visit that did not cry," he added.

"It was an awful place to be and yet at the same time, it was the place that we needed to be, to call it out and ‘say no more' to the government and policy makers."

Managed by the UK Home Office, Dungavel House has occupancy for 125 detainee places to accommodate both male and females.

Mr Kerr said the detainees whom the delegation met appreciated the visit.

"Getting to know people, hearing their stories and understanding their fear and pain is so important," he added.

"Journeying alongside them as brothers and sisters whom we share a common bond with.

"We have to remember that there are staff there working in a system that they cannot change either.

"We did not see staff or anyone using language that we would have found painful but that was the experience of those who were there."

Chaplaincy

Dungavel House was originally a 19th-century hunting lodge and summer retreat of the Dukes of Hamilton.

It is served by a small rota of voluntary chaplains, including Rev Dr John Carswell from the Church of Scotland, based in Hamilton.

Additionally, detainees are visited thrice weekly by Scottish Detainee Visitors who are always seeking willing volunteers to help aid their work and support the detainees.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that no asylum seekers will be sent to Rwanda before the election on 4 July under the government's deportation scheme to counter illegal migration.

But he said flights will take off if the Conservatives are elected and form a new UK Government.