Migrants Ruling Sends Crowds on Both Sides Into UK Streets

Opponents and supporters of migrants faced off in angry confrontations at demonstrations held around Britain over the weekend as the government scrambled to deal with fallout from a court order that will force a hotel in a London suburb to evict asylum-seekers. The ruling has created a headache for the government, which has struggled to curb unauthorized migration while fulfilling its responsibility to accommodate those seeking refuge. The two groups hurled insults at each other in several communities Saturday as police struggled in places like Bristol to keep them apart, the AP reports. On Sunday, groups gathered peacefully outside hotels used to house migrants in Birmingham and London's Canary Wharf. The situation:

• The influx: Debate in the UK has focused on migrants—often fleeing war-torn countries, poverty, regions wracked by climate change, or political persecution—crossing the English Channel in overloaded boats run by smugglers. Tensions have escalated over the housing tens of thousands of asylum-seekers at public expense. To help resolve the crisis, the government announced Sunday that it would speed up asylum appeals that could lead to more deportations and clear a backlog of cases.
• Protests: The latest round of demonstrations followed weeks of protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, on the outskirts of London, after a resident was accused of trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl and was charged with sexual assault. The man has denied the allegation and is due to stand trial this month. Epping Forest District Council won a temporary injunction to shut down the hotel because of "unprecedented levels of protest and disruption," which had led to several arrests. The High Court decision Tuesday in favor of the council—which the government wants to appeal—inspired anti-migrant demonstrators gathering under the banner of Abolish Asylum System to protest over the weekend. The group Stand up to Racism rallied counterprotesters.

• The hotels: The government is legally obligated to house asylum-seekers. Using hotels to do so had been a marginal issue until 2020, when the number of asylum-seekers increased sharply and the then-Conservative government had to find new ways to house them. A record 111,084 people applied for asylum in the year to June 2025, but fewer than a third of them are temporarily living in hotels, according to Home Office figures. That was up 8% from a year earlier but far below the peak of more than 56,000 in September 2023.
• The politics: Hard-right Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and other politicians have sought to link many of the problems the country faces, such as with health care and housing, to migrant arrivals. Others, including the government, argue that the likes of Farage are whipping up the issue for political gain and that there are no easy answers to an issue affecting many European countries.
• Party views: The leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, urged Tory councils all over the country to launch legal challenges similar to that of Epping if their legal advice allowed. The ruling Labour Party dismissed her appeal as "desperate and hypocritical nonsense," but several Labour-led councils have also suggested they, too, could mount legal action against asylum hotels in their areas. The worry is that tensions could explode into the sort of violence that ravaged towns and cities in England last summer in the wake of a stabbing rampage at a dance class that left three girls dead and several wounded.
• Government response: The government's first priority is to sharply decrease the number of dangerous channel crossings. It's hoping a deal with France to send migrants who cross the channel back to France will be a deterrence. But the issue of what to do with the tens of thousands of asylum-seekers in the country remains. The easiest option would most likely be to house asylum-seekers in the private sector, but that risks compounding problems in the rental market in a country where housebuilding has been low for years.