CHANNEL-crossing asylum-seekers are being held at a detention centre “black site” without proper access to phones or food, campaigners claimed today.

Refugees who recently crossed the Channel are being held temporarily in Yarl’s Wood, Bedfordshire, which closed as a women-only detention centre last month. 

Migrant solidarity campaigners went to the site yesterday to try to make contact with detainees after reports that recent arrivals were being held there without access to legal advice.

Shouting through the gated centre’s windows, asylum-seekers told campaigners some had not been given phones while others had been offered just £1 of credit. 

Movement for Justice campaigner Antonia Bright said detainees also spoke of not being given suitable food, if any, while inside. 

Describing the centre as a “black site,” Ms Bright told the Morning Star: “It has created a situation of secrecy from the outside world, an environment where people inside have no idea, are kept in the dark and this is preventing people from accessing any rights.

“It’s hidden from view. The lawyers we know would normally regularly be in touch with people from Yarl’s Wood and they have not been able to get information.”

Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre was repurposed as a “short-term holding facility” in August by the Home Office specifically to process people arriving in small boats across the Channel. 

Research by Corporate Watch claims that regulations for this classification do not require legal advice to be made available to detainees on site. 

This is particularly concerning as detainees go through their initial asylum screening interviews at Yarl’s Wood, which can determine their chances of claiming asylum in Britain. 

Until recently, the Serco-run site was a long-term facility holding mainly women detainees.

Mr Bright said that the absence of “long-term” detainees was also a problem as new arrivals to detention centres are often given NGO and legal contact details by fellow detainees. 

Campaigners have expressed fears that asylum-seekers arriving by the Channel route are being rushed through the system in a bid to deport them as quickly as possible. 

The Home Office did not respond to the Star’s request for comment.