Immigration experts say the front-line officials charged with initially questioning refugee claimants do not have enough latitude to probe the details of claimants’ stories, even if there is reason to doubt them.
The issue of how and when claimants are questioned came to public attention late last month. That’s when figures provided to MPs on the Commons immigration committee revealed that the Immigration and Refugee Board, which adjudicates asylum claims, has since 2019 processed more than 45,000 refugee cases based on paperwork alone, without in-person hearings, as it deals with a backlog of claims.
