REFUGEES in Erskine face an uncertain future as the Home Office prepares to pull them out of the Scottish town after more than a year in an isolated and dilapidated hotel.

About 200 refugees were placed in the Muthu Glasgow River Hotel in February 2023, but with the site due to be closed by Tuesday, many of the 20 remaining residents who have fled war and persecution still do not know where they are to be sent.

The Tory government, which fuelled far-right organisations such as Patriotic Alternative and Homeland by housing refugees in hotels around the country, has vowed to stop the practice, leading to the closure of the Erskine site.

The Star understands that the remaining refugees are to divided between as yet unidentified locations in Glasgow, Greenock, Aberdeen and Dundee.

Refugees and solidarity activists told the Star that with less than 48 hours to go before the move, many still did not know where they were going, adding further trauma as support networks risk being severed.

One resident, Ahmed, who had been learning English at Glasgow Kelvin College, told the Star: “I do not know where I am going.

“It could be Greenock, it could be Dundee, it could be Aberdeen, I do not know.

“I have college, how can I continue?”

ONLINE: Paula Dixon, an EIS-Fela rep and college lecturer, said that despite resistance from Home Office contractor Mears to her signing up residents for courses, they had been a huge success.

She said: “Their English has been coming on really fast, but at a day’s notice they are going to be moved to Greenock or Dundee and that means they can no longer go through to college — their bus pass won’t get them there.

“They’ve been uprooted again on top of all the other upheaval in their lives up until now.

“It just seems like a terrible way to treat people, to not give them any notice, not allow them to make plans about how to continue with their life and just expect that they can be just parcelled around like a piece of mail.”

The Home Office was contacted for comment.