London, Aug 10: Amid a row over the UK government's controversial anti-immigrant campaign, a British Sikh leader has claimed that many illegal immigrants from India are keen to return home.
Gurmel Singh-Kandola, secretary-general of the Sikh Council, said that he believes there are a number of Indians from Punjab and Delhi, who entered the UK illegally and are now stuck here unable to work or fund their return without proper documentation.
"Many of them have been trafficked by unscrupulous agents who take a lot of money from them. In fact they are stuck. They want to go home on a voluntary basis and what we need is processes to facilitate that," he said.
"Their plight is well known; they are sleeping very rough under bridges and in multiple occupancies, sometimes in sheds in the back of people's gardens. We have been quite concerned about the abject poverty in which they are living," he said.
The Sikh Council has initiated talks with the Home Office to see how it can prepare to help illegal immigrants return to their home countries.
