Asylum seekers can stay in UK hotel after government wins appeal to keep it open

LONDON (AP) — Britain's Court of Appeal on Friday overturned a ban on asylum-seekers from being housed at a hotel northeast of London that has been the site of protests for weeks and has become a political flashpoint across the country.

The three-person panel backed the Labour government's appeal against the temporary injunction granted by a High Court judge last week that would have required the 138 asylum-seekers currently staying at the Bell Hotel, in Epping, Essex, to leave by Sept. 12.

The government was particularly worried that the High Court decision could have been a catalyst for other similar decisions around the country, which would have thrown its policies for housing asylum-seekers into disarray.

“We conclude that the judge made a number of errors in principle, which undermine this decision,” Justice David Bean said while reading a summary of the ruling overturning the injunction. “The judge’s approach ignores the obvious consequence that the closure of one site means capacity needs to be identified elsewhere in the system.”

The judge also warned that the ruling last week, in treating protests as relevant, risked “encouraging further lawlessness.”

Asylum minister Angela Eagle said the government “inherited a chaotic asylum accommodation system” and that it intends to close all hotels by the close of this Parliament, which is set to end in 2029.

She said the government appealed the High Court judgment “so hotels like the Bell can be exited in a controlled and orderly way.”

The government was joined by Somani Hotels, which owns the Bell Hotel, in challenging the temporary injunction that was granted on the basis of local planning laws.

Though local planning laws in Essex may not apply elsewhere, other councils, including Labour-run authorities, had publicly announced their intention to seek legal advice over whether they could achieve similar injunctions for hotels in their areas.

The government was criticized for pursuing an appeal, with many opponents arguing that it was putting the rights of asylum-seekers over those of local residents, a charge that it vigorously denies.

“Local communities should not pay the price for Labour’s total failure on illegal immigration," said Kemi Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party.

A small number of protesters donning the English and the U.K. flags gathered outside the hotel after the ruling, with police officers guarding its entrance, which was gated off with metal fencing.

The leader of Epping Forest District Council, which brought the case, voiced his disappointment at the outcome and set his sights on a full hearing on the matter that is set for mid-October.

Chris Whitbread told Times Radio that there had been both peaceful and “non-peaceful” protests outside the hotel, and said he supported peaceful ones. “I call for calm," he said.

The Bell Hotel has become the epicenter for an issue that's topped the political agenda during the summer, following the sharp rise in the number of asylum-seekers arriving on small boats across the English Channel over the past few years. For several weekends, protests have taken place outside hotels by both opponents and supporters of migrants.

Tensions became acute after a resident at the Bell Hotel allegedly tried to kiss a 14-year-old girl and was charged with sexual assault. The man has denied the accusation and is currently standing trial.

The Labour government, which was elected a little more than a year ago, has struggled to curb unauthorized migration and fulfill its responsibility to accommodate those seeking refuge.

Using hotels to do so had been a marginal issue until 2020, when the number of asylum-seekers increased sharply and the then-Conservative government had to find new ways to house them.

The number of asylum-seekers housed in hotels stood at just over 32,000 at the end of June, the Home Office said. That figure was up 8% from about 29,500 a year earlier but far below the peak of more than 56,000 in Sept. 2023.

Ken Williamson, Councillor of Epping Forest District Council, front, speaks to press after the judgment due in Home Office and hotel owner's appeal bids against Epping asylum seeker ruling, at The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/ Joanna Chan)

Ken Williamson, Councillor of Epping Forest District Council, second right, speaks to press after the judgment due in Home Office and hotel owner's appeal bids against Epping asylum seeker ruling, at The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/ Joanna Chan)

Ken Williamson, Councillor of Epping Forest District Council, center, speaks to press after the judgment due in Home Office and hotel owner's appeal bids against Epping asylum seeker ruling, at The Royal Courts Of Justice in London, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/ Joanna Chan)

Police officers watch protesters outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, England, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, after a temporary injunction that would have blocked asylum seekers from being housed at the hotel in was overturned at the Court of Appeal. (Lucy North/PA via AP)

Protesters hold placards during a demonstration in Orpington near London, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025 as the dilemma of how to house asylum-seekers in Britain got more challenging for the government after a landmark court ruling this week motivated opponents to fight hotels used as accommodation.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.

SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station.

“It’s so good to be home,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.

It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.

Cardman and NASA’s Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.

While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board. It was not immediately known when the astronauts would fly from California to their home base in Houston. Platonov’s return to Moscow was also unclear.

NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.

The space station has gotten by with three astronauts before, sometimes even with just two. NASA said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even for an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which has two Americans, one French and one Russian astronaut.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This photo provided by NASA shows clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui gathering for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows recovery vessels approaching the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 capsule to evacuate one of the crew members after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)