HOME SECRETARY Shabana Mahmood is seeking “to use children as a weapon” in her asylum plans, a Labour peer who came to Britain as a child refugee has warned.

The government is preparing to intensify the removal of entire families after unveiling a fresh set of harsh measures on Monday evening.

A document laying out the rules claimed that asylum-seekers are using their children to “thwart removal.”

Now a consultation will look at stripping financial support from families with under-18s if they had been refused asylum.

The government says it will offer “financial support” to encourage families to leave voluntarily, but still escalate an “enforced return” if they refuse.

Lord Alf Dubs, who fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and arrived in England on Kindertransport, accused Ms Mahmood of using “children as a weapon,” describing it as a “shabby thing.”

He said: “I’m lost for words frankly. My concern was if we remove people who have come here, what happens if they’ve had children in the meantime?

“What are we supposed to do with the children who are born here, who’ve been to school here, who are part of our community and society?”

Under the plans, refugee status will be made “temporary,” forcing asylum-seekers to reapply every two-and-a-half years, while the time it takes to be eligible for permanent residence will be quadrupled to two decades.

The government will also halt multiple appeals against deportation.

Separate changes introduced last week mean that some minor or historic issues such as short periods of overstaying and administrative errors may result in automatic visa refusals, the Indian Workers’ Association (IWA) warned.

IWA general secretary Sital Singh Gill said: “These rules create a real risk of family separation, and children may face the greatest emotional and psychological impact.”

Ministers will also seek to change how the European Convention of Human Rights and the Modern Slavery Act are applied to limit how people may use their right to a family life or trafficking claims to stop deportations.

Amnesty International’s Steve Valdez-Symonds warned: “The moment a government decides that fundamental rights can be switched off for certain people, it crosses a dangerous line that should never be crossed.

“This is how universal protections begin to rot. Once you strip rights from one group, you hand licence to whoever comes next to strip them from others.”

Announcing the changes in Parliament, Ms Mahmood claimed that scale and pace of migration has “destabilised communities” and is making Britain a “divided place.”

Backbenchers have accused the home secretary of trying to court the far-right, with Richard Burgon calling the policy “a desperate attempt to triangulate with Reform.”

“By ripping up protections for people who have fled war and persecution, this government normalises the cruelty of the last one, to appease the far right,” Apsana Begum wrote on X.

Stand Up to Racism will protest against the measures outside the Home Office tomorrow at 6pm.

The group’s co-convener Sabby Dhalu warned: “The measures announced could lead to another Windrush scandal and many people with a right to stay wrongfully deported.

“We urge MPs to vote against them and the government to stop dancing to the tune of the far right.”