Thousands of English locals turned out onto the streets in East Sussex on Sunday to protest against plans to house hundreds of alleged asylum seekers at a former military training camp in Crowborough.
This week, the Home Office, the government department tasked with controlling Britain’s borders and immigration system, began transferring migrants to the East Sussex camp, with 27 alleged asylum seekers being brought to the camp on Thursday, the local Argus newspaper reported .
The site, which is earmarked to hold up to 500 migrants at any one time, was commandeered by the government as it seeks to lessen its dependency on UK hotels to house migrants while their asylum claims are processed. According to the government, the migrants will only be stationed at the camp for three months at most.
However, the move has nonetheless sparked local concern in Crowborough, with opponents pointing to previous examples of crimes committed by the hands of hotel migrants, including the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl by an Ethiopian hotel migrant just days after breaking into the country illegally via the English Channel from France.
Thousands were seen waving the British Union Jack and the English flag of St George as they marched through Crowborough to demonstrate against the migrant camp.
Sarah White, of the Pink Ladies anti-mass migration campaign group, said : “Crowborough says no. The community of Crowborough just like all of the communities across the country don’t want undocumented men in their communities.”
CROWBOROUGH, UNITED KINGDOM – JANUARY 25: Protesters march from Crowborough Training Camp, a former military site, in Crowborough, United Kingdom, on January 25, 2026, during a protest calling for the barracks not to be used to house asylum seekers. (Photo by Marcin Nowak/Anadolu via Getty Images)
According to the Daily Mail , protesters were heard chanting “Keir Starmer, traitor” and seen carrying signs reading, “Crowborough says no!” and “Protect Britain from Tyranny, Listen to the People.”
Earlier this week, the Home Office confirmed that 27 asylum seekers have moved into the East Sussex camp. Three people were arrested, apparently amid opposing the move, including a 36-year-old man, a 62-year-old woman, and a 54-year-old man from Newhaven.
As of September, the government was housing around 36,273 supposed asylum seekers in hotels. This figure is likely to continue to rise, given the more than 41,000 illegal migrants who reached British shores last year. The government has vowed to shut down the migrant hotel scheme by 2029.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said that while she understands there is a “strength of feeling” in opposition to the Crowborough camp, she said that it is “crucial” to the transition away from migrant hotels and therefore vowed to “vigorously” defend the project against any legal challenges from locals.
