Immigration

Hiring refugees is not just ‘doing a good thing’ – research shows it can also help businesses

— Refugees can help fill labour shortages and skills gaps, while also boosting diversity and competitiveness.

Immigration

Sending UK asylum seekers to Ascension Island is a legal non-starter – if the government really is planning to do it

— The UK government is briefing that a remote patch of land in the South Atlantic, Ascension Island, could become a processing hub for people crossing the Channel in small boats.

Immigration

Tory MP tells asylum seekers to “f*** off back to France” if they don’t like barges

— Amidst the ongoing debate about asylum seekers being housed on barges, Tory MP Lee Anderson’s populist views have stirred controversy.

UK Immigration Policy

‘Performative cruelty’: The hostile architecture of the UK government’s migrant barge

— Semi-carceral facilities accommodating irregular migrants are designed to be hostile spaces that expose people to substandard conditions and keep them on the move, detached from wider society.

Immigration

Rwanda plan is in legal limbo, but history shows such migration deals are unlikely to disappear

— The UK government wants to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, but the court says it’s illegal. The deal is part of a wider policy to deter irregular migration and make deals with other countries. Similar schemes have been tried before in history.

UK Immigration Policy

How the UK’s new immigration law will put more people at risk of modern slavery

— The government has claimed that irregular migrants are falsely claiming to be victims of modern slavery to avoid being deported, but there is little evidence to support this.

UK Politics

Why UK court ruled Rwanda isn’t a safe place to send refugees – and what this means for the Government’s immigration plans

— The Government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda has been ruled unlawful by the Court of Appeal, which found that Rwanda’s asylum system is not fair and effective. Relief for refugees who faced being deported to a country where they could face persecution.

Asylum Seekers

Home Office criticized for leaving 40 asylum seekers without accommodation in Westminster

— Westminster council leader questioned the Home Office over asylum seekers’ accommodation as 40 of them are left in the streets of London for two nights running.

UK Politics

Revealed: Government to legalise ‘hazardous’ accommodation for asylum seekers

— Housing and migrants charities blast ‘shameful’ plan to relax licensing rules around HMOs for people fleeing danger.

UK Politics

The UK’s unworkable immigration plans allow the government to blame others for its failure

— The illegal migration bill is performative politics that allows the Conservatives to blame opponents ahead of a key election.

COMMENT

Rishi Sunak’s Goldilocks migration strategy: ‘Stop the boats’ and ‘start the legal’ passage

— Rishi Sunak is trying to please both moderate and hard-lined rebels within his party regarding UK migration policies. The UK needs ‘safe and legal’ routes for both economic migrants and persecuted people so they don’t have to risk taking boats. It’s time for humane migration policies in the UK.

Refugee Rights

Illegal immigration bill does more than ‘push the boundaries’ of international law

— The UK government is introducing a bill to deter small boat migration and remove those who arrive illegally. It violates international law, overriding domestic laws, the Refugee Convention and Human Rights Law.

Immigration

Asylum claim rejections show the UK government has little understanding of what people are fleeing – and it’s costing lives

— Many asylum applications are rejected on grounds that dismiss the dire situations in applicants’ countries of origin.

Immigration

UK-France migration deal: How does Brexit factor into the plan to stop small boats?

— The new deal with France provides clear and compelling evidence that the way the UK chose to leave the EU actually meant a reduction in the ability to control irregular migration.

Analysis

Creating a spectacle around people seeking asylum generates fear and chaos, not solutions

— Recent scenes at Victoria Station and Manston immigration centre are one way the government drives anti-migration sentiment. 12 years of Tory governance has pushed narratives that dehumanise vulnerable people, and turned the border into a spectacle.

COMMENT

Braverman’s brutal Britain

— It’s not May, Johnson, Truss, or Sunak that is the problem, it’s the entire detestable lot of them.