Protecting protection

Editorials

Protecting protection

Home Secretary Priti Patel’s proposed “biggest overhaul of the UK’s asylum system in decades” is based on false premises – particularly on the actual availability of legal routes – and tears apart the principle of the right to claim asylum. The proposals create a two-tier system that punishes those who manage to find their own route to safety and condemns them to a life in limbo with restricted rights. People fleeing persecution and death have the right to seek sanctuary. That is the starting point, and no policy should undermine it. We are…

Home Secretary Priti Patel’s proposed “biggest overhaul of the UK’s asylum system in decades” is based on false premises – particularly on the actual availability of legal routes – and tears apart the…

UK's asylum housing shame

The appalling conditions for asylum seekers housed at the Penally Camp and Napier barracks have been exposed in a damning report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration and the prisons inspectorate. This can come as a surprise only to those who do not listen to migrant voices. It’s shocking nonetheless. The report says that the Home Office disregarded advice by Public Health England and Public Health Wales that the dormitory accommodation was not Covid-safe (up to 28 in a room at one point); did not give contractors time to prepare the…

The appalling conditions for asylum seekers housed at the Penally Camp and Napier barracks have been exposed in a damning report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration and the prisons…

Vaccination: it’s about health, not immigration

We welcome the government’s announcement that everyone in the UK is entitled to receive Covid-19 vaccination regardless of their immigration status. However, in order for everyone to come forward, including an estimated million undocumented migrants, they need to trust that the government will not use any information collected to take immigration enforcement action against undocumented migrants. The government must introduce a system that is completely independent, with the sole aim of protecting public health and saving all lives. People living in the UK without documents need to be assured that…

We welcome the government’s announcement that everyone in the UK is entitled to receive Covid-19 vaccination regardless of their immigration status. However, in order for everyone to come forward, including…

Undocumented migrants must have access to the vaccine too

While we welcome the rapid rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination programme in the UK, we are concerned that there are many UK residents who have no idea if, when or how they will have access to the vaccine: they are undocumented migrants, who live and work among the rest of us, but who don’t have the same access to healthcare and may be too afraid to seek out the chance to be vaccinated. In the UK, the vaccine is being distributed based on information held by GP surgeries. Theoretically, every person…

While we welcome the rapid rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination programme in the UK, we are concerned that there are many UK residents who have no idea if, when or…

The UK media has a lot to learn

In a society where two-thirds of migrants say that media and political discourse has an impact on their sense of belonging, it’s important that the media landscape is constantly scrutinised, including the question of who gets to speak. This becomes even more important during unprecedented situations such as the Covid-19 pandemic, when social inequalities – many of which disproportionately impact migrants – are exacerbated. Back in March 2020, as the first lockdown kicked in and we all sat glued to the news on our phones, we at Migrant Voice decided to…

In a society where two-thirds of migrants say that media and political discourse has an impact on their sense of belonging, it’s important that the media landscape is constantly scrutinised, including…

Editorial: Dehumanise, deport, repeat

Just a few weeks on from promising to create a just immigration system, the Home Office seems to have become obsessed with deporting people. Whether it’s Jamaicans who have served a prison sentence and are now facing their second, crushing punishment; asylum seekers whose claims have been refused; or someone who finds themselves without a bed for the night – the Government seems determined to get rid of them as fast as possible, sometimes even skipping over their own due process to do so. We urge the Home Office to scrap the policy, implemented at…

Just a few weeks on from promising to create a just immigration system, the Home Office seems to have become obsessed with deporting people. Whether it’s Jamaicans who have served…

Editorial: A watershed bill

Not all Immigration Acts go down in history. Most are forgotten almost as quickly as they are superceded. But the Immigration Act 2020 is different – and in our view, its passing should go down in history as a dark moment in the story of Britain and migration. By ending free movement, failing to introduce promised reform, and granting extraordinary and excessive powers to the Home Secretary to create immigration policy, the Act lands a triple blow to any remaining hopes of a fair, humane and welcoming post-Brexit immigration system. We are…

Not all Immigration Acts go down in history. Most are forgotten almost as quickly as they are superceded. But the Immigration Act 2020 is different – and in our view, its passing…

Editorial: 'Live in dignity or die in the sea'

Rasoul and Shiva, and their children Anita and Arnim, died while trying to reach safety in the UK. Their deaths were preventable and should shame us all. They were not the first to lose their lives on this route – but there are people with the power to make policies that can make sure they’re the last. We are calling on the Prime Minister and Home Secretary to immediately restart and expand the UK’s refugee resettlement programmes, through which the most vulnerable refugees are identified and resettled in the UK.…

Rasoul and Shiva, and their children Anita and Arnim, died while trying to reach safety in the UK. Their deaths were preventable and should shame us all. They were not…

Editorial: On trust, trauma and transformation

Last week, the Home Office published their “Comprehensive Improvement Plan” – their in-depth response to Wendy Williams highly critical report into the Windrush scandal. Announcing the plan, the Home Secretary promised to “transform the Home Office” – and, unusually, the transformation being proposed was a welcome one, foregrounding words such as equality, human rights, and human impact. Yet this plan was published the day after leaked news that the Home Office had considered the viability of sending asylum seekers to various far-flung states and remote volcanic islands (or even disused ferries, we learned later) to…

Last week, the Home Office published their “Comprehensive Improvement Plan” – their in-depth response to Wendy Williams highly critical report into the Windrush scandal. Announcing the plan, the Home Secretary promised to “transform…

Editorial: No more time for excuses

There seemed to be a tiny spark of hope for thousands of international students at a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing on 10 September. Permanent Secretary for the Home Office Matthew Rycroft agreed on camera that his Department should offer a way for students wrongly accused of cheating and wrongly stripped of their visas six years ago to prove their innocence and restart their lives. “The Home Office should give innocent people the opportunity to clear their names,” insisted Stephen Timms MP (long-time advocate on this issue) at that hearing.…

There seemed to be a tiny spark of hope for thousands of international students at a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing on 10 September. Permanent Secretary for the Home Office…

Protecting protection

Editorials