(UNITED KINGDOM) — A GB News report said Olabode Shoniregun, a 27-year-old from Las Vegas, sought asylum in the UK in October 2024 and later received social housing and monthly living-expense support after his claim was refused.
GB News said Shoniregun told the outlet he feared persecution and framed his case around being Black, Jewish, and Mormon.
What GB News reported
The report said his asylum application was denied on June 5, 2025, after which he was initially evicted from migrant hotel accommodation before later receiving help tied to local and charitable support.
GB News identified that support as coming from Islington Council and Saint Stephen’s Church in Canonbury, which the outlet said provided social housing and approximately £400.19 monthly in living expenses.
The case drew attention in the report because it combined an asylum refusal with a later period of support linked to a London borough council and a church, with GB News presenting it as “thousands in taxpayer cash.”
Support, institutions, and timeline details
GB News portrayed the period after June 5, 2025 as a shift from migrant hotel accommodation to an eviction, followed by a further change “within weeks” into social housing and monthly living-expense support.
The report’s account places a local authority, Islington Council, at the center of a story that also involves a faith institution, Saint Stephen’s Church in Canonbury, with GB News describing both as part of the chain of support after the Home Office asylum refusal.
GB News said Shoniregun was later removed from social housing in November following what the outlet described as “aggressive conduct toward staff.”
Identity, entitlement claims, and direct quote
GB News also reported a disputed claim of entitlement that Shoniregun linked to his place of birth, saying he argued he should qualify for benefits because he was born at Whittington Hospital in the UK.
“I’ve been born in the United Kingdom, so I think that it’s crazy for me not to receive some kind of benefit,” Shoniregun said, according to GB News.
What the report did and did not include
The report did not set out the Home Office reasoning for refusing the asylum application, beyond stating the date of refusal and summarizing the grounds Shoniregun raised when he claimed persecution.
GB News did not publish additional detail in the account cited here about how the council assessed Shoniregun’s circumstances, what eligibility route was considered, or how the church’s assistance was structured beyond the report’s description of housing and living-expense support.
The report also did not provide detail in the account cited here on any legal challenge to the refusal, any further immigration application, or any further decision after the November removal from social housing.
The description of the November incident focused on “aggressive conduct toward staff,” without providing further detail in the account cited here about what happened or what process led to the removal.
Coverage context and comparisons
The outlet’s focus on identity-based persecution claims and post-refusal support comes amid wider public debate about asylum decisions and assistance, themes that have also featured in separate reporting on cases such as a gay Nigerian deportee seeking to reapply for asylum.
Other recent coverage has also linked asylum to criminal justice outcomes in some cases, including a Hyde Park assault prosecution, though GB News’ report on Shoniregun centered on housing and support following an asylum refusal rather than a criminal case.
The report’s emphasis on “taxpayer cash” also sits alongside broader questions about how governments define eligibility for public support, a topic that has surfaced in different ways in other jurisdictions, including the United States.
Search results and policy framing
In its summary of the wider information environment, the material cited here said the search results available were focused “primarily on recent changes to US immigrant eligibility for federal programs under H.R. 1,” rather than on additional specific cases involving asylum seekers receiving benefits.
That contrast matters to how readers interpret a story about a single individual, because the GB News account is a case-based narrative, while policy debates such as those tied to H.R. 1 are framed around program rules rather than one person’s circumstances.
Explainers and further reading
For readers trying to understand how asylum cases usually move through the system, separate explainers have described the UK asylum process in terms of staged decision-making, though GB News’ report highlighted only a limited set of milestones in Shoniregun’s case, including the October 2024 claim and the June 5, 2025 refusal.
Separate explainer coverage has described asylum seeker support as spanning housing and financial assistance, but the GB News account tied its figures and institutional detail specifically to Islington Council and Saint Stephen’s Church in Canonbury.
Asylum process timeline (what happened, and what it usually means)
The GB News account cites a sequence of events in Shoniregun’s case — an asylum claim in October 2024, a refusal on June 5, 2025, eviction from migrant hotel accommodation, placement into social housing with monthly living-expense support of approximately £400.19, and removal from that housing in November.
Because interactive tools will provide a detailed visual timeline, this section offers a concise explanatory lead-in: these milestones are the specific events GB News highlighted, while standard asylum-process explainers describe multiple stages and decision points that may or may not be visible in a single news account.
Readers should note that a case-based narrative like the one in the report will often show only some milestones; the interactive timeline tool will help place those milestones within the broader procedural context.
Key takeaways
- The GB News story combined information about an asylum refusal with later periods of support tied to a council and a church.
- Reported support included social housing and about £400.19 monthly in living expenses, attributed to Islington Council and Saint Stephen’s Church in Canonbury.
- GB News quoted Shoniregun arguing entitlement based on being born at Whittington Hospital, saying: “I’ve been born in the United Kingdom, so I think that it’s crazy for me not to receive some kind of benefit.”
- The report did not detail the Home Office’s reasoning for refusal, any legal challenges, or the specific procedural steps connecting eviction and later housing placement.
GB News’ account ultimately combined several different strands — Las Vegas as Shoniregun’s reported U.S. tie, a UK asylum claim filed in October 2024, a refusal dated June 5, 2025, housing and living-expense support described as social housing and approximately £400.19 monthly, and removal from that housing in November — into a single narrative.
US asylum seeker receives thousands in taxpayer-funded benefits
This report examines the case of Olabode Shoniregun, a U.S. citizen whose UK asylum claim was denied in mid-2025. Despite the refusal, he received local council housing and financial aid, totaling about £400 monthly. The narrative highlights the intersection of national immigration policy and local authority support, while also noting Shoniregun’s eventual removal from housing due to behavioral issues and his public claims regarding birthplace-based entitlements.
