Belfast Knife Attack: A Wake-Up Call for Better Asylum Vetting – Without Strong Deterrents, Horrific Crimes Will Persist

THE horrific knife attack on a local resident in Belfast, for which a Sudanese national is now facing justice, has again raised questions about how illegal migrants can enter and stay in the UK when we have little or no knowledge of their true identity, mental health or propensity to commit harm once admitted.

Cases are being reported almost daily where migrants arrive at our border without any identity documents, get admitted whilst their are considered, and then go on to commit horrific crimes.

Legitimate questions have been raised about how he was able to board a flight from France to Ireland in the first place The suspect travelled by air from Paris to Dublin, entered the UK via Dublin in February 2023 Credit: Splash

While we have yet to hear from whether the alleged attacker possessed legitimate documents, the massive scale of undocumented entry cannot be denied.

This case differs from most. The suspect, Hadi Alodid, did not arrive by small boat across the .

He travelled by air from Paris to , entered the UK via Dublin in February 2023 and was granted leave to remain in on 28 September 2023 – presumably as an asylum seeker.

This raises legitimate questions about how he was able to board a flight from to Ireland in the first place, because he would need to show he had a valid passport and an Irish visa to do so.

Ireland as part of the Common Travel Area agreement, established over a century ago Credit: Alamy Cases are being reported almost daily where migrants arrive at our border without any identity documents Credit: PA

And what happened when he arrived at Dublin airport, and why he was admitted there.

Because after that, he could freely travel to Northern Ireland as part of the Common Travel Area agreement, established over a century ago.

But whether he came by small boat or via the , people are right to question how he was admitted in the first place and allowed to claim asylum here.

As it stands, if an illegal migrant can get to the UK border and claim asylum, then we are legally obliged to accept their claim and not to send them back.

Even if they have arrived from a safe country like France, where they could have claimed asylum if they were really fleeing persecution.

Although there is provision in UK to exclude asylum applications from migrants who have arrived from safe third countries it has seldom been used – mainly because those countries (like France) refuse to take them back.

Once here and in the asylum system, they know that they will go through a lengthy process involving applications, appeals and reviews before there is any chance of removal.

Even after that it is unlikely they will ever be removed, either on grounds or because the country they came from refuses to take them back.

Meanwhile human smugglers continue to facilitate their entry, and the government continues to support and accommodate them throughout the process.

Without a realistic removals deterrent, they will just keep coming.

Last year an independent report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services raised concerns that our approach to intelligence gathering when migrants arrived in the UK was neither robust nor effective enough.

We have limited powers, infrastructure or resources to detain them for thorough risk assessment at the border before granting temporary admission.

In order to improve our border security and reduce the number of horrific incidents like this in future, we will need to address these issues urgently.