Ex-asylum seeker wants government to deport him to Somalia because it's 'safer' than Nuneaton

A former asylum seeker wants the government to send him back to his home country Somalia because he believes it is "not safe" living in a market town in Warwickshire.

Yusuf Ali Hamud arrived in the UK two decades ago to seek asylum, but after a criminal conviction for a serious assault, he was stripped of his right to work.

He lives in Nuneaton and has claimed that over the last five months he has been asking to be deported to Somalia, but said he is still waiting for a Home Office response.

Read more: The deep divides over asylum seekers in Nuneaton

"The country is not safe," the 50-year-old told Sky News's Shamaan Freeman-Powell. "But my country [Somalia], now, I'm safe. I want to go back."

"The Home Office, they are ignoring me," he said.

He said if he didn't have the right to work or refugee status in the UK, "why am I here?"

Mr Hamud said he didn't want to "come here to eat and sleep, like [a] baby" and would rather return to his home country which has been gripped by an ongoing civil war since 1991.

Data from a league table published earlier this year shows there were 19,244 foreign offenders awaiting deportation at the end of 2024, a rise from 17,907 when the Conservatives left office in July and 14,640 at the end of 2022.

Asked about Mr Hamud's case, the Home Office told Sky News it cannot comment on individual cases, but said it always seeks to ensure the removal of those who have committed serious crimes in the country, whether that's through enforced deportations or voluntary returns.

Under plans yet to come into force, the government has said it will deport foreign criminals immediately after sentencing.

A few years ago, the number of asylum seekers in Nuneaton was in the single digits, but the figures have since grown to 247 by June this year.

The latest figures show there are 19 asylum seekers per 10,000 residents, placing Nuneaton 87th in the country in terms of concentration.

Nuneaton has become a flashpoint for anti-migrant unrest after two men, reported to be Afghan asylum seekers, were accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.

A Sky News interview with Zahin, a 32-year-old businessman, was interrupted by a group of women who shouted and swore at the camera.

"You're trying to rape our kids," shouted one of the women. They were accompanied by children and one held a pint of lager.

"That's the issue with having youse [sic] in our country, you're raping our kids," one woman shouted.

Zahin, who relocated to Nuneaton from Malawi when he was six years old, asked the women: "What you teaching them kids?"

He later said he believes he was targeted because the women assumed he was Muslim and added: "For them to accuse us of a crime, that's unfair, that is unjust."

"I love this town," he said.

(c) Sky News 2025: Ex-asylum seeker wants government to deport him to Somalia because it's 'safer' than Nuneaton