Timeline of key events at Napier Barracks - Evening Express eveningexpress.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eveningexpress.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Asylum chic! Migrant in £175 Anti-Social Social Club jacket is led away by official as ANOTHER boat arrives in Kent - after overnight flurry of arrivals saw yesterday s figure soar to 157 with nearly 1,000 landing in six days
4,016 migrants crossed Channel so far this year, including 857 in six days between last Friday and yesterday
157 people arrived yesterday, but 2021 total doesn t include at least 13 migrants brought ashore this morning
Dover s Tory MP Natalie Elphicke urges France to take back asylum seekers caught crossing in small boats
People smuggling gangs taking advantage of calm seas to send over hundreds of would-be asylum seekers
By Press Association 2021
Penally Camp in Wales (ICIBI/HMIP/PA)
Home Secretary Priti Patel and her department faced repeated criticism from professionals, inspectors and campaigners over the decision to house asylum seekers in a former Army barracks.
The Home Office decided in September to use Napier Barracks in Kent and Penally Camp in Wales amid a shortfall of accommodation during the coronavirus pandemic.
This prompted concerns from campaigners and health professionals over the conditions in the former military bases, leading to petitions to shut the sites down.
Shortly after, a Covid-19 outbreak was confirmed at Napier.
Despite this, Ms Patel and immigration minister Chris Philp continued to defend the use of such sites.