Daily Express columnist Carole Malone and i newspaper reporter Benjamin Butterworth became embroiled in a furious row about an asylum centre being opened opposite a school in Faversham, Kent.
The pair appeared on GB News to debate plans to accommodate unaccompanied youngsters arriving in the UK near a school in the area.
Malone said she feared for the safety of young pupils in the area, adding she would be concerned were she an affected parent.
“Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong already”, she said.
Benjamin Butterworth and Carole Malone were engaged in a frosty row
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“You say these people are 16 or 17-year-olds, but we know that when they arrive in this country they dump all their paperwork and they pretend to be younger than they are.
“They could be 30-year-old men for all we know. The thing that riles me about this is social care in this country is chaotic and terrible.
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“Elderly people are the forgotten generation. We have a perfectly viable care home here that the local authority is not funding and is instead choosing to fund an asylum centre because they are getting money from the Government to fund it.
“They are throwing these lads in the area and doing nothing about it. Virile young men will be out and about. Who is going to be able to stop them?”
Butterworth hit back to accuse Malone of demonising young asylum seekers making their way into the country.
“I’m afraid that Carole is fear mongering”, he said.
Carole Malone is steadfast in her assertion that the asylum centre should not be opened
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A fiery clash broke out on GB News
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“It’s dehumanising these people who have come from extraordinary atrocities.”
Malone interjected to angrily assert Butterworth “doesn’t know” the circumstances in which migrants have arrived, suggesting a great deal of them have turned up with economic motives in mind as opposed to fears for their safety.
“Then their refugee applications will not be accepted”, Butterworth hit back.
“You talk about them having thin fences between some of the neighbours as though they are dogs. That is a despicable way to look at these people.
“These are young men who have risked their lives for a better life. That is not a care home, that is an empty building that was not being used.
“The fact is, it is now being used and we have these people coming into our country. You talk about them as if they aren’t human.”
A statement from Kent County Council (KCC) on the matter read: “As required by the Court, KCC has been working closely with the Home Office on the provision of appropriate levels of accommodation to meet the required anticipated need.
“A total of nine properties across Kent have been identified as suitable for use as new UAS Children Reception Centres.
“Ring-fenced central government funding will be provided to meet Ofsted regulations and the ongoing management of these new accommodations so they will not present an additional unfair burden on Kent taxpayers.”
