BBC investigation finds lawyers coaching fake LGBTQ+ asylum claims — BBC News

[0:00] We're investigating immigration advisers [0:02] that are encouraging migrants to cheat the asylum system. [0:06] To penetrate this shadow industry, we've had to go undercover. [0:10] Our reporter is posing as a former student [0:13] who wants to stay in the UK. [0:15] They're not being persecuted, [0:16] they've got no genuine basis to claim asylum. [0:20] But we've heard some consultants are prepared [0:22] to help migrants like him pretend to be gay [0:25] to stay in the UK. [0:29] Hello? [0:29] After putting out some feelers, [0:31] our undercover reporter's phone rings out of the blue. [0:43] Someone's got in touch from a number that we have not got saved. [0:45] I don't know who this person is, but her name's Tanisha. [0:48] I said, but I'm not ready. [0:49] She goes, doesn't matter, no one's gay. [0:51] So yeah, come to me, we'll do everything. [0:53] I'm for escape. [0:56] Later that evening, our undercover reporter [0:58] puts a face to the voice on the phone. [1:01] This is Tanisha Khan. [1:06] She's invited him to her home in East London [1:08] for what will turn out to be the first of several meetings. [1:11] Tanisha explains one specific way to remain in the country. [1:16] But I don't know who this person is. [1:21] Do you have any success? [1:25] Do you have any success or do you have any success? [1:26] A lot. [1:28] Tanisha explains one specific way to remain in the country. [1:32] So now is just one path, [1:35] What she's offering is help obtaining asylum, a protection that's offered when it's too [1:59] dangerous for someone to live in their home country. Being gay and from Pakistan, where [2:04] homosexual acts are illegal could mean you qualify. For a fee, Tanisha offers to provide [2:11] evidence to support the fake claim. [2:37] Anna Gonzalez is an immigration lawyer with more than two decades experience working on [3:00] human rights cases. We show Anna how Tanisha even has an answer for someone that's pretending [3:16] to be gay, but wants their wife to move here too. [3:18] Tanisha says, [3:20] You think you've seen it all and then you see something like this. People like that is just [3:37] really making things harder for the legitimate asylum seekers and refugees out there. [3:42] Tanisha calls our reporter to another meeting, this time at the offices of Law and Justice [3:49] Solicitors. There, she tells him that she's involved with a community group that he needs [3:54] to join. [4:23] Our reporter makes a down payment of £150 to become a client. Later, he's invited to [4:29] attend his first meeting. It's held at a busy community centre in East London. Here, Tanisha [4:36] isn't just one of the group's advisers, but a star attraction. A photo with her and others [4:41] from Worcester LGBT, together with proof of regular attendance, can be used as evidence to support [4:46] a fake asylum claim. [4:49] Our reporter is in there. The meeting is going on right now. And every time we've driven past, [4:54] there's more and more people going in. It's clearly absolutely packed in there. And we know from [4:58] Tanisha that a lot of them, like our reporter, are just pretending to be gay. [5:02] One after another, those attending tell our undercover reporter that many people at the meeting [5:31] are not really gay. [5:37] They have come here from South Wales, Coventry, Birmingham. For tonight? Yeah, for tonight. And they're [5:56] going back tonight after the event. Just to go to that meeting? Just for the event. So this isn't just [6:00] people in London. This is people from all over the country. Yep. And they're all coming to this [6:04] meeting in Becton to get proof that they're there. Yep. To then give it to the Home Office and say, [6:09] I'm genuine. Asylum expert Ana Gonzalez says the nature of sexuality-based claims can make them [6:15] easier to fake and harder to police. Every time this sort of information hits the media, [6:21] it just hardens the British public a bit more. And particularly with something that is as intangible [6:27] as being LGBTI, really. Because when you are a victim of torture, when certain things have happened [6:33] to you, often there is way of evidencing that in an objective way. When it comes to the queer community, [6:38] it is not. It's just how convincing you can be on that particular day, irrespective of you telling [6:43] the truth or not. Tanisha Khan denies all wrongdoing and said there have been communication difficulties [6:49] because she's not a fluent Urdu speaker. Worcester LGBT told us they were investigating her. [6:55] It said it does not create, encourage or support evidence in asylum claims. [7:00] Law and justice solicitors said it had no professional connection with Tanisha, [7:04] and our reporter was never set up as a client of the firm. It said it was investigating [7:09] potentially unauthorised access to its office. The Home Office said anyone found trying to exploit [7:15] the system will face the full force of the law. Our investigation has uncovered systematic [7:22] attempts to cheat the immigration system and revealed some of those who were profiting from it. [7:28] Asylum protections are there for the many genuine applicants escaping danger, [7:32] but it's possible there are hundreds of people who are in the country on the basis of a fraudulent claim.