Immigration Minister criticises asylum campaigners

Woolas attacked lawyers and charities working on behalf of asylum seekers, accusing them of undermining the law and "playing the system". He also said that most asylum seekers were not fleeing persecution but were economic migrants. He claimed that "The system is played by migration lawyers and NGOs to the nth degree. By giving false hope and by undermining the legal system, [they] actually cause more harm than they do good."

Immigration lawyers said Woolas's comments were "absolutely extraordinary". Sophie Brown, chair of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association, said: "Lawyers can only work with the law. To say they are undermining the law is an extraordinary comment to make."

Donna Covey, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the appeals process was a vital safety net for asylum seekers who are "criminalised" on arriving in Britain. "Having your asylum claim rejected does not make you an economic migrant. For some nationalities, such as Eritreans and Somalis, almost half of refused asylum seekers have their cases upheld on appeal. These are people who would be in danger of persecution such as murder, torture or rape if sent back to the repressive regimes they are fleeing."

Simon Barrow, of the Christian think tank Ekklesia, said: "Mr Woolas should be publicly investigating his own government's bias against asylum seekers rather than attacking charities, human rights groups and lawyers for giving vulnerable people support.

"Mr Woolas' claims that there is an 'industry out there' with a vested interest in taking asylum claims and appeals forward, with the implication that people should be denied access to justice because they are from another country and seeking refuge, is false and shameful.

"Governments attack human rights workers when they have something to hide. The UK authorities have been rightly criticised for dawn raids, removal of children and other abuses of justice in relation to people seeking asylum - even refusing to accept the legitimacy of their own numerous legal defeats. It is this that needs public investigation."

Vaughan Jones, a minister in the United Reformed Church and director of the agency Praxis, which works with displaced people across London, described the statement from the new Immigration Minister as "a disturbing development.

"Asylum seekers and migrants are human beings with rights and it is quite proper and legitimate for the law to defend those rights and for people of good will to advocate for and support people in need, vulnerable to exploitation and potential victims of miscarriages of justice."

"Attacking the defenders of human rights is not the most edifying of stands, although it is regrettably not without precedent.

"There are many highly respected voluntary organisations and faith-based organisations operating with integrity and within the framework of the law. Their work is well acknowledged and scrutinised by funders and regulators. Their activities should not be repudiated simply because they take a different stance on migration. A mature debate does not begin with mud-slinging."

CAP's Living Ghosts campaign aims to change the laws that make people seeking asylum destitute.