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<DIV class=ds-headline>source:<A
href="http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=39&ArticleID=1272929">http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=39&ArticleID=1272929</A></DIV>
<DIV class=ds-headline><BR>Rethink halts eviction of failed asylum seekers
</DIV>
<DIV class=ds-firstpara id=ds-firstpara>By Anne Alexander <BR>Political Editor
<BR>Evictions of failed asylum seekers who were on emergency benefits in Leeds
have been halted – after people were driven underground by an unworkable "paper
policy" which left them hungry, homeless and desperate.</DIV>
<DIV class=va-bodytext id=va-bodytext>Home Office minister Tony McNulty ordered
a rethink after it emerged that large numbers of people waiting to be sent back,
were disappearing into the "underworld" after receiving confusing letters
telling them they had to go back to their home country. <BR>Fears were raised
that the failed asylum seekers were being driven into criminal activities
because they were left destitute after having their subsistence cut off.
<BR>Hundreds of letters were sent out to people on section four in the Leeds
area during a period of around four weeks informing them they needed to make
arrangements to voluntarily return home. It said that if they did not respond to
the letter, their subsistence would be cut off. <BR>Many either misunderstood
the letters, or failed to respond due to fear and either disappeared or had
their benefits stopped and were evicted – leading to problems in the area.
<BR>John Battle MP (Leeds West), who met Mr McNulty, said: "We really have to
think seriously about what options people have got if they are tipped out into
the streets with no money and no home and no resources."<BR></DIV>
<DIV class=va-date id=va-date>01 December 2005</DIV></FONT></DIV>
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