The Home Office have announced plans for an immigration holding facility near Glasgow Airport.
The new, smaller unit will replace Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre near Strathaven in South Lanarkshire after it was announced there are plans to close it.
The Dungavel facility, opened in 2001, is the only one of its kind in Scotland. It can hold up to 249 detainees, but is currently under used due to its remote location.
Plans for the new 51-bed centre on Abbotsinch Road, beside Glasgow Airport, will need approval from Renfrewshire Council.
The Home Office said that the “vast majority” of stays there would be for less than a week.
Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill said: “We keep our detention estate under constant review to ensure we have the right resources in the right places.
“The new short-term holding facility would provide easy access to London airports, from where most removals take place, meaning those with no right to be in the UK can be removed with less delay.
“Closing Dungavel immigration removal centre as a consequence fits with that approach and will result in a significant saving for the public purse.”
The Scottish government has welcomed the closure of Dungavel but questioned the purpose of the new facility in Renfrewshire.
Local MP for Paisley & Renfrewshire North Gavin Newlands said: “The SNP has long campaigned for the closure of the Dungavel detention centre and cautiously welcomes the UK government decision to finally close it as the practices that have been allowed to take place at the centre – including the detention of children – are inhumane, unfair and proven to be ineffective.
“However, I have contacted the UK Government’s Immigration Minister, Robert Goodwill MP, to request an urgent meeting to seek assurances on these practices and the proposed centre’s impact on Renfrewshire. There will be a lot of interest in what this new facility will mean and it’s vitally important that we get as much detail as possible.
“This new short-term facility, if built, could allow moving detainees to centres in England that allow long-term detention. This would move them far away from their friends and legal advisors to a jurisdiction where access to justice is severely impeded by a very limited legal aid regime.
“The vast majority of people, including women and children, held in these facilities are not criminals but the system and the facilities effectively treat them as such.
“I myself have visited the Colnbrook detention centre at Heathrow Airport and would be concerned that any new centre would be designed, built and run in a similar fashion to Colnbrook where mental health problems are rife.
“I will of course keep local constituents updated on any developments.
Communities Secretary Angela Constance said: “The Scottish government has long campaigned for the replacement of Dungavel with a more humane system, however, by introducing a rapid removal facility there is a real risk that people who have been living in Scotland will either have their opportunities to challenge their deportation restricted or be taken to immigration removal centres far away from their families, friends and legal representation.
“This move could make it considerably more difficult for them to pursue their cases and have serious impacts on their mental health.
“We will be seeking urgent clarification from the UK government on their proposals and guarantees around the way in which asylum seekers based in Scotland facing deportation will be treated.”
