Katy Bourne, Sussex PCC, said that asylum seekers who are due to be moved into an army barracks in Crowborough should be made to wear tags.
Rachel Millward, the Green Party deputy co-leader, is also a local councillor in the district covering Crowborough.
Councillor Millward is co-leader of Wealden Council and is the Green Party candidate for mayor of Sussex. Ms Bourne is the Conservative candidate for Sussex.
Rachel Millward, right, alongside Brighton Pavilion MP Siân Berry (Image: Sian Berry)
She said Mrs Bourne should know better than to call for migrant tagging after a failed trial last year.
Rachel Millward said: “Asylum seekers were tagged in the UK on a 12 month trial in 2022-3.
“Not only was it proven then to be horrifically stressful, invasive and dehumanising, it was deemed unlawful by the the Information Commissioner’s Office.
“Katy Bourne should know better, given that it was under the previous Conservative government that tagging asylum seekers was trialled and proven unlawful.
“This just looks like another attempt to validate fears and stoke division.”
Katy Bourne, Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner
Councillor Millward argued that asylum seekers should be allowed to work.
“The vast majority of men who enter the UK to seek asylum are fleeing persecution and danger”, she said.
“They are men who want to work and to find hope for their families back home.
“Asylum seekers should not be treated as criminals. They deserve dignity.
“The Green Party will fight for their right to work – which they have in EU countries – and to be allowed to integrate into the community and build a life here.”
Crowborough Training Camp, where asylum seekers are due to be housed (Image: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)
Migrant charity Ramfel told the BBC that tagging people seeking asylum when they are not accused of a crime is “cruel, punitive and will simply funnel yet more public money into the hands of private companies”.
“If the government is serious about saving public funds and reducing crime, they should grant people seeking asylum the right to work whilst their claims are being processed,” it added.
“This would allow them to enter the formal labour market, support themselves and in turn reduce the need to house people in hotels, army barracks and other makeshift facilities.”
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