Overview
- Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne had urged a pilot requiring the 540 men due at Crowborough Training Camp to wear electronic tags to deter crime and enable tracking.
- Bourne argued tagging could also permit wider movement from accommodation and potentially support access to temporary work, and she has submitted a bid for several million pounds in extra policing funds for the site.
- The Home Office said electronic monitoring powers apply to those facing deportation and that broadening them to asylum seekers in accommodation would be impractical and breach human rights.
- Opponents, including the Green Party and migrant advocates, cite a 2022–23 UK tagging trial described as unlawful by the Information Commissioner’s Office and call the practice dehumanising.
- Political reaction is split, with some Conservative figures expressing support, as protests continue over plans to house up to 540 people at the former barracks while the government pushes moves from hotels to larger sites.