On Tuesday morning, three people were arrested by Home Office immigration enforcement because of their suspected links to a criminal network which is believed to help asylum seekers pretend to be gay, providing fake photographs and letters to Bangladeshi men to convince the courts that they are at risk of persecution back home. This followed an undercover BBC investigation from April which exposed a cottage industry of lawyers and advisers who help migrants fake homosexuality in order to remain in the country, and a Home Office whistleblower telling the Times that ‘hundreds’ of Pakistani asylum seekers have said they were in a gay relationship with the same man, who provided letters in support of their claims.

Of course the charge that some migrants are faking homosexuality in service of their asylum claims predates the recent reporting. In September 2023, then home secretary Suella Braverman gave a speech in Washington DC where she said:

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