Immigration

What does high immigration mean for the government’s popularity?

— High immigration rates correlate with increased support for the governing party and lower unemployment rates. Legal immigration has little economic impact, but illegal immigration causes fear and anxiety. To win elections, parties must address irregular arrivals and emphasize immigration benefits.

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

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.

EU Citizens

Judge rules EU citizens’ data rights must be protected

— The3million has prevailed in a court case against the UK government, with the High Court ruling that data protection rights for EU citizens and other migrants must be upheld by law.

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.

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.

Hostile Environment

New data reveals scale of waiting times for the EU Settlement Scheme.

— The Home Office is denying rights to thousands of EU citizens and hundreds of thousands of people who are unable to join their family members, due to the hostile environment towards immigration.

Immigration

How the hostile environment is affecting EU citizens.

— A year on from the deadline to the EU Settlement Scheme, we are all now living under the Home Office’s hostile environment.

Testimony

EU citizens told they can’t come home using just their European passports.

— Two EU citizens with Settled Status in the UK, travelling on their European passports, were recently told by the staff of two airlines, EasyJet and Ryanair, to produce “additional ID” to be able to fly back home to the UK. How the hostile environment is being delegated to private companies.

EU Citizens

Home Office: Loved ones are left in limbo for months on end.

— We were promised our lives wouldn’t change. Now our loved ones are left in limbo for months on end, we are left unable to care for our elderly parents, our families are being split apart, and parents are unable to even see their children.

COMMENT

All government wants is for asylum seekers to be out of sight out of mind.

— Rather than doing anything practical to tackle gangs, the government blames human rights lawyers – the very people who are making sure asylum seekers are correctly and lawfully processed.

COMMENT

Government has more interest in allowing vulnerable children to be targeted by traffickers than tackling traffickers.

— How many children refugees will join those already being incorrectly classed as adults by the Home Office’s social workers? How many risk being sent to Rwanda or stuck in camps?

Justice

Pursuing CSI justice for European citizens.

— The European Court of Justice has ruled the UK’s requirement for Comprehensive Sickness Insurance (CSI) unlawful.

COMMENT

The Home Office’s bureaucracy has been destroying people’s lives for decades. Increasing it isn’t the way forward.

— Implementing a sponsored visa route, rather than waiving visas, risks putting refugees in greater danger of exploitation, without long-term security. It is a cop-out by the government to avoid providing genuine support.

COMMENT

How the Home Office spends money hurting people.

— Instead of wasting more money on failed immigration policies, on hurting and othering people, the UK Government could use it to help people struggling in this country.