tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/hostile-environment-44885/articlesHostile environment – The Conversation2023-11-15T17:44:31Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2116862023-11-15T17:44:31Z2023-11-15T17:44:31ZHow the Welsh language is being promoted to help migrants feel at home<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550026/original/file-20230925-22-4zy1hu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=43%2C0%2C4819%2C3174&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Welsh government has announced plans to make Wales a 'nation of sanctuary'.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/second-severn-crossing-wales-november-2018-1229207257">Ceri Breeze/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>You can read this article in <a href="https://theconversation.com/maer-gymraeg-yn-cael-ei-defnyddio-i-annog-ymfudwyr-i-deimlon-gartrefol-217503">Welsh</a>.</em></p>
<p>The UK government alone decides who can enter the country and how migration and asylum policies are made. But devolved governments have scope to use <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8599/CBP-8599.pdf">their powers</a> in fields such as housing, education, health and social services to shape the nature of the support that is subsequently offered to new arrivals.</p>
<p>In recent years, the Welsh government has <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2023.2198809">looked for ways</a> to use its powers to help refugees and migrants integrate into Welsh society, taking into account the role of the Welsh language. </p>
<p>Overall, this is an approach that seeks to create a welcoming and supportive environment in Wales. It contrasts with the UK government’s commitment to <a href="https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/long-term-international-migration-flows-to-and-from-the-uk/">reducing net migration</a> and to create a “<a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/what-is-hostile-environment-theresa-may-windrush-eu-citizens-legal-immigrants-145067">hostile environment</a>” for refugees and asylum seekers.</p>
<p>The most prominent step taken to date was the publication of the Welsh government’s <a href="https://www.gov.wales/refugee-and-asylum-seeker-plan-nation-sanctuary">plan in 2019</a>, which set out measures aimed at turning Wales into a “<a href="https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-wales-nation-sanctuary">nation of sanctuary</a>”.</p>
<p>However, another significant – but less obvious – aspect of the Welsh government’s work are the steps taken to ensure that the Welsh language plays a more prominent role in the process of welcoming migrants and refugees.</p>
<p>Reflecting on this work, <a href="https://www.gov.wales/jane-hutt-ms">Jane Hutt</a>, Wales’ social justice minister, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/cymrufyw/64811421">has argued</a> that the Welsh language could become “an extremely powerful integration tool”.</p>
<h2>Hospitality and integration</h2>
<p>The shift to viewing the Welsh language as a resource that can facilitate integration is evident when tracing the evolution of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) provision in Wales.</p>
<p>In 2013, the formal link between ESOL provision and the process of gaining UK citizenship was <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tougher-language-requirements-announced-for-british-citizenship">unpicked</a> by the then Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.</p>
<p>An unforeseen consequence of this reform was that it created an opportunity to initiate a distinct approach to language education for migrants in Wales. Hence, a year later, the Welsh government published its first <a href="https://www.gov.wales/english-speakers-other-languages-esol-policy-statement">ESOL policy for Wales</a>. It was the first of its kind to be developed by any of the UK’s four governments.</p>
<p>The original ESOL policy did not make a link between the Welsh language and linguistic integration. But a <a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2019-11/english-for-speakers-of-other-languages-esol-policy-wales.pdf">later iteration</a>, published in 2019, called on ESOL providers in Wales “to integrate the Welsh language into their classes”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/esol-english-classes-are-crucial-for-migrant-integration-yet-challenges-remain-unaddressed-204415">Esol English classes are crucial for migrant integration, yet challenges remain unaddressed</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This was deemed necessary as the “the Welsh language can be a valuable skill in the workplace”. And also because learning Welsh can facilitate “social integration”, particularly in “predominantly Welsh speaking communities”.</p>
<p>Coinciding with this, the <a href="https://learnwelsh.cymru/learn-welsh-with-us-croeso-i-bawb/">National Centre for Learning Welsh</a> worked in partnership with <a href="https://www.adultlearning.wales/cym">Adult Learning Wales</a>, the umbrella organisation for adult education providers across Wales, to develop a novel Welsh for speakers of other languages (WSOL) provision. Introduced for the first time in 2019, <em><a href="https://learnwelsh.cymru/learn-welsh-with-us-croeso-i-bawb/">Croeso i Bawb</a></em> (“Welcome to Everyone”) is a bespoke course that aims to introduce the Welsh language to migrants and refugees.</p>
<p>A Welsh government-commissioned <a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2023-07/review-english-speakers-other-languages-esol-policy-wales.pdf">review</a> of ESOL provision in Wales this year reiterated the value of introducing Welsh for promoting a sense of belonging. The review also called for the National Centre for Learning Welsh to be integrated fully into existing educational networks that work to support migrants in Wales. </p>
<h2>Implications</h2>
<p>It is important not to overstate the scale of these changes. Overall, English remains the primary medium of integration for the majority of immigrants and refugees settling in Wales.</p>
<p>Yet the increasing emphasis on the Welsh language in integration efforts reinforces the sense of a distinctive Welsh approach to welcoming migrants and refugees. The new WSOL provision <a href="https://wales.britishcouncil.org/en/blog/migrants-multilingualism-and-welsh-language">challenges</a> the monolingual image of life in the UK and promotes multilingualism and multiculturalism. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qgjVx8bTMfg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Adult Learning Wales’ information on WSOL.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10993-019-09517-0">research</a> suggests that learning Welsh can enhance the employment opportunities of migrants and refugees. It can also facilitate their ability to access a variety of new social networks. </p>
<p>But if there is to be a serious effort to offer a route to integration, it will not be sufficient to merely focus on offering formal opportunities to learn the Welsh language, important as that may be.</p>
<p>Policymakers and activists should consider other ways to make Welsh language learning more accessible. Providing opportunities for learners to interact socially through the medium of Welsh is also vital.</p>
<p>While the UK government seems set to continue emphasising English as the only way to integrate successfully, the current evidence suggests that Wales wants a different, more multilingual vision.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211686/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article has benefited from financial support offered by the Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) as part of a project on the ethics of linguistic integration.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Chick is affiliated with the Welsh Refugee Council as a Trustee.</span></em></p>The Welsh government has taken steps to ensure that the Welsh language plays a more prominent role in welcoming refugees and migrants.Huw Lewis, Senior Lecturer in Politics, Aberystwyth UniversityGwennan Higham, Senior Lecturer in Welsh, Swansea UniversityMike Chick, Senior Lecturer in TESOL/English, University of South WalesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2048402023-06-02T15:53:42Z2023-06-02T15:53:42ZWindrush compensation scheme: how the UK government is failing its citizens with this ‘belittling and horrible’ process<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/windrush-prove-your-right-to-be-in-the-uk">Windrush scheme</a> was set up in 2018 to provide documentary confirmation of British citizenship and residency rights for the Windrush generation and other commonwealth citizens, and their children. This came in the wake of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/16/windrush-u-turn-welcome-but-theresa-may-policy-cruel">growing scandal</a> that had seen the Home Office, as a result of Theresa May’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-the-uk-governments-draconian-immigration-policy-explained-95460">hostile environment policy</a>, repeatedly refuse existing residency rights to many people whose home had been the UK for decades. </p>
<p>In announcing the scheme, then home secretary Amber Rudd apologised for her government’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/16/theresa-may-caribbean-representatives-windrush-immigration">appalling treatment</a> of the Windrush generation. People had suffered devastating harm. They had lost jobs and homes, and been deprived of healthcare. Many had been threatened with deportation. Some were <a href="https://theconversation.com/men-deported-to-jamaica-are-being-set-up-for-failure-151261">deported</a> to countries they had not visited since early childhood. </p>
<p>In the five years since, however, this scandal has only deepened. </p>
<p>The UK government set up the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/apply-windrush-compensation-scheme">Windrush compensation scheme</a> in 2019, to allow victims of the Windrush scandal to claim compensation for any losses suffered as a result of being denied the right to live in the UK. But even as the wider process has revealed the true impact of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/29/windrush-scandal-caused-by-30-years-of-racist-immigration-laws-report">historical racist immigration laws</a>, the compensation scheme has been marred by <a href="https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/home-office-criticised-after-windrush-grants-scrapped-for-2022-23.html">delays</a> and controversies. Crucially, it has largely lost the trust of the people it was set up to serve. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528239/original/file-20230525-19-6vicuz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This article is part of our <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/windrush-75-139220?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Windrush75&utm_content=InArticleTop">Windrush 75 series</a>, which marks the 75th anniversary of the HMT Empire Windrush arriving in Britain. The stories in this series explore the history and impact of the hundreds of passengers who disembarked to help rebuild after the second world war.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Despite extensive scrutiny and repeated calls for reform – from the all-party law reform and human rights organisation <a href="https://files.justice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/12142211/JUSTICE-Report-Reforming-the-Windrush-Compensation-Scheme-Press-Copy.pdf">Justice</a>, a <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmhaff/204/report.html">home affairs select committee</a>, the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-person-report-on-the-windrush-compensation-scheme/independent-person-report-on-the-windrush-compensation-scheme-oversight-and-performance">independent person</a> appointed in 2021 by the government to assess the Windrush compensation scheme, and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60943533">campaigners</a> – very little change has occurred. In April 2023, the NGO Human Rights Watch <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/04/17/uk-hostile-compensation-scheme-fails-windrush-victims">said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[The scheme] is failing and violating the rights of many to an effective remedy of human rights abuses suffered.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I work in the <a href="https://windrushjc.org/about-us/">Windrush Justice Clinic</a> alongside community groups, law centres including <a href="https://www.southwarklawcentre.org.uk/windrush/">Southwark Law Centre</a>, and several universities. We help victims receive the compensation they deserve through legal casework, outreach and policy reform. </p>
<p>My research compares the Windrush compensation scheme with other such schemes in a bid to gauge its effectiveness. The fact that the perpetrator of the harm caused – the Home Office – has primary responsibility for decisions and the rules of this scheme is a fundamental design flaw.</p>
<h2>A humiliating process</h2>
<p>In January 2022, Vincent McBean – an ex-serviceman who arrived in the UK from Jamaica with his brother Edwin when he was eight – sought help from the Windrush Justice Clinic. McBean’s children were born in the UK and lived here for a number of years, before he sent them to Ghana for their early schooling. Since 2010, he has been trying, unsuccessfully to bring them back. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Two men sit at a table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529434/original/file-20230531-17-8xwyfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529434/original/file-20230531-17-8xwyfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529434/original/file-20230531-17-8xwyfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529434/original/file-20230531-17-8xwyfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529434/original/file-20230531-17-8xwyfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529434/original/file-20230531-17-8xwyfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529434/original/file-20230531-17-8xwyfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vincent and Edwin McBean in the 2000s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vincent McBean</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Vincent McBean’s British citizenship was only recognised through the Windrush scheme in 2019, and his brother’s was not recognised until July 2022. This long delay saw Edwin denied the care and supported accommodation he has needed subsequent to a lengthy hospital stay after contracting COVID. </p>
<p>The impact on the family has been devastating, and both brothers are seeking compensation. As Vincent puts it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have been forcibly separated from my children for many years and watched my brother suffer. Edwin lived in a cramped room completely unsuited to his health needs. There were points he had no carers, so I had to do everything for him, which also impacted my health. When I tried to resolve the situation, I found the system belittling and horrible. If you can imagine, I fought for England – [yet] I was treated like a second-class citizen. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A flawed system</h2>
<p>The failure of the Windrush compensation scheme to deliver justice is down both to how it was designed and how it is being delivered. To Vincent’s mind, it is too complicated and bureaucratic, designed to stop people claiming compensation. </p>
<p>The application form is 44 pages long. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/home-office-routinely-disbelieves-people-even-those-claiming-asylum-from-persecution-94664">exacting standard of proof</a> for claims has been somewhat revised, but applicants are still expected to provide extensive evidence to demonstrate the loss they have suffered – a standard that legal experts have likened to the criminal standard of proof. In April 2023, for example, Human Rights Watch <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/04/17/uk-hostile-compensation-scheme-fails-windrush-victims">reported</a> that victims were being told letters from local councils demonstrating periods of homelessness were not deemed sufficient. </p>
<p>This is despite the architect of the scheme, Martin Forde, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/windrush-scandal-compensation-home-office-b2278088.html">testifying in court</a> that it was only ever meant to be “light touch on requirements for documentation”. Forde said he had expected Home Office staff to trust people:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I did not expect them to ask people in their seventies to do the legwork, and to provide documentation that they would obviously not have.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At the same time, the application form does not adequately cover all the suffering that people have experienced. They cannot claim for loss of pensions, savings and property, among other things.</p>
<p>The fraught nature of this initial application process is only compounded by the ineffectiveness and lack of independence of the appeals system. There is no right of appeal to an independent tribunal. Instead, applicants may challenge the amount of compensation awarded or a decision that they are ineligible by seeking a review. This “tier-1” review is undertaken by the Home Office. </p>
<p>If applicants are unhappy with this decision, they can seek a tier-2 review, which the government describes as being carried out by an “independent person”. In reality, it is carried out by HMRC – the UK’s tax authority, another government department. And it can only make recommendations. </p>
<p>In May 2021, the <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/press-releases/investigation-into-the-windrush-compensation-scheme/">National Audit Office</a> found that more than half of all Windrush compensation cases had been inadequately processed. It highlighted mistakes and inconsistencies in how caseworkers had calculated compensation, stating: “The department’s quality-assurance processes are not identifying all errors.”</p>
<p>As of March 2023, approximately 42% of the more than 2,000 applicants whose Windrush compensation scheme claims had been refused were seeking a review. And despite continuing concerns about the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/04/17/uk-hostile-compensation-scheme-fails-windrush-victims">arbitrary nature</a> of the decisions, only 7% of those applying for a final review of their claim <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/04/17/uk-hostile-compensation-scheme-fails-windrush-victims">had received</a> an increase in compensation. </p>
<h2>Insufficient support</h2>
<p>The UK government has not made legal aid available for compensation claims, because its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_Aid_Agency">Legal Aid Agency</a> believes the legal issues involved in these claims do not relate to relevant human rights. The Southwark Law Centre is currently challenging this position in court.</p>
<p>Instead of providing legal support to victims, the government funds a third-party training provider, <a href="https://www.we-are-digital.co.uk/windrush-compensation-scheme">We Are Digital</a>. This provider cannot provide legal advice on the substance of the compensation application. However, it nonetheless purports to assist claimants in completing the application form with a maximum of three hours support – assistance that a report by Justice characterised as “of limited value”.</p>
<p>Experienced lawyers, in their evidence to the Home Affairs Committee, have reported spending an average of 45 hours on Windrush compensation claims. Comparable compensation schemes, including those where the application process is significantly less complex, have a system in place for victims to recover their legal costs – but nothing exists for Windrush claimants. </p>
<p>The compensation scheme thus perpetuates the heavy evidential burden and culture of disbelief that has been emblematic of the hostile environment policy. The re-victimisation is profound. In <a href="https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/download/1d27f37a1717f92cc0a2f15215d2a978068f562fdefd5a657465cf0a418e77a7/707735/The%20Windrush%20Compensation%20Scheme%20-%20Unmet%20Need%20for%20Legal%20Advice.pdf">research</a> carried out in 2022, a Windrush victim said of his dealings with the Home Office in relation to the scheme: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is almost like they are telling me: ‘We are really, really sorry for punching you in the face – however, we are sure you’ve recovered now, it wasn’t that bad of a punch, so here is another punch in the face but don’t worry about that one, because you’ve already recovered. Please accept some tape and cotton wool to make a plaster out of.’</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Vincent McBean, who is president of the <a href="https://waspuk.co.uk/">West Indian Association of Service Personnel</a>, says many veterans have come to see him about their situations. He encourages them to make claims but says many won’t have anything to do with it, suggesting:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The government cannot be trusted. They have no integrity and they are making it very hard for people.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Home Office has <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/7936/documents/82209/default/">acknowledged</a> that distrust in the government is one reason for the low uptake in the scheme. <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/7936/documents/82209/default/">Estimates</a> put the number of people eligible for compensation at between 11,500-15,000. And yet, as of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-compensation-scheme-data-february-2023">February 2023</a>, only 5,647 applications have been made, of which 2,012 (36%) have been refused and 1,520 (27%) received a payment. </p>
<p>In other words, four years after the compensation scheme was set up, only one in ten of the eligible cohort have received a compensation payment. </p>
<p>“By the time I get anything, I will be dead,” Edwin McBean recently told me. At least <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmhaff/204/report.html#heading-2">23 people</a> have so far died while waiting for a decision. </p>
<p>The system in place to deliver the Windrush compensation scheme is too slow, lacks independence, and is wholly unsuited to an ageing cohort. One senior civil servant working on the compensation scheme put it plainly in evidence provided to the <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/23067/pdf/">home affairs select committee in 2021</a>. This scheme, she said, is “systematically racist and unfit for purpose”. </p>
<p>The Home Office has been approached for comment. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=144&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=144&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=144&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=181&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=181&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533175/original/file-20230621-18-hw1fuf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=181&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You can <em><a href="https://bit.ly/3DdOERY">download the e-book here</a></em>. Thank you for your interest.</p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204840/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shaila Pal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the five years since the Windrush scheme was set up, the scandal of how British people have been treated by their own government has only worsened.Shaila Pal, Director of Clinical Legal Education & Senior Lecturer, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1936702022-11-01T17:18:01Z2022-11-01T17:18:01ZThe UK’s asylum system is in crisis, but the government – not refugees – is to blame<p>Kent Police are investigating an attack on a Home Office migrant processing centre in Dover, after incendiary devices <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-63453810">were reportedly thrown</a> at the building on Sunday October 30 2022. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-63446683">Reports have said</a> that witnesses at the scene described these devices as petrol bombs, with one found in the car of the person, now deceased, who is reportedly suspected of having carried out the attack. </p>
<p>Just days before the attack, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, David Neal, <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/83/home-affairs-committee/news/173834/minister-questioned-on-channel-crossings/">told</a> the home affairs select committee that he was left “speechless” by his visit to the Home Office’s short-term holding facility in Manston. He described an “alarming” and “really dangerous situation” of overcrowded and insanitary conditions. </p>
<p>The home secretary, Suella Braverman, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11374475/Suella-Braverman-DENIES-blocking-migrants-staying-hotels.html">has claimed</a> the UK’s asylum system is “broken”, stating that <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/conservatives/2022/11/suella-bravermans-migrant-invasion-claim-hides-her-lack-of-ideas">she aims</a> to stop the “invasion of our southern coast”. For the home secretary to blame asylum seekers for a failing system is concerning. </p>
<p>The Manston facility is a “processing site” at an airfield in Kent. Opened in February 2022, on paper it is intended to hold 1,000 people, each for up to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-secure-site-for-processing-illegal-migrants">five days</a> while they undergo security and identity checks. Neal, however, said he found the camp past “the point of being unsafe”, with 4,000 people now housed there in tented accommodation and for long periods of time. People –- including children –- are sleeping on the floor for weeks. </p>
<p>The facility is fast becoming a public health risk. There have been outbreaks of norovirus, scabies and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/oct/20/diphtheria-outbreak-confirmed-at-asylum-seeker-centre-in-kent">diphtheria</a>, the latter a highly contagious and normally extremely rare disease in the UK. </p>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/inspections/short-term-holding-facilities-at-western-jet-foil-lydd-airport-and-manston/">report on Manston</a>, published on November 1 2022, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor highlights that healthcare processes are lacking, children are being detained for far too long and staff are poorly trained. With a further 700 people moved from Dover to Manston after the Dover attack, we can expect the situation there to get even worse. </p>
<p>This is the latest inappropriate and dangerous quasi-detention centre used to hold asylum seekers in recent years. In 2020, the former military Napier barracks in Folkstone were used for similar purposes.</p>
<p>A House of Lords committee <a href="https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/the-use-of-napier-barracks-to-house-asylum-seekers-regret-motion/">warned</a> of overcrowding, fire risks, “filthy” facilities and buildings so “decrepit” they were deemed unfit for habitation. In June 2021, the high court <a href="https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/the-use-of-napier-barracks-to-house-asylum-seekers-regret-motion/#:%7E:text=In%20June%202021%2C%20a%20judgment,were%20unlawfully%20detained%20under%20purported">declared</a> Napier inadequate for housing asylum seekers and found the Home Office guilty of employing unlawful practices.</p>
<p>By law, save for the tiny number of people selected for <a href="https://refugeecouncil.org.uk/information/refugee-asylum-facts/refugee-resettlement-facts/">official resettlement</a> from Ukraine or Afghanistan, to claim refugee status, a person must already be in the UK. Without legal channels available, people seeking protection are forced to make dangerous journeys and enter the country illegally. Contrary to the language employed by the Home Secretary, the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/3bcfdf164.pdf">1951 refugee convention</a> stipulates that no one should be penalised for entering a country illegally to seek refuge. </p>
<p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1114683/Detention_General_instructions.pdf">UK policy</a> prescribes that general immigration detention be used for minimal periods, in the last resort and only for (non-vulnerable) adults. Detention in short-term holding facilities is treated slightly differently, but the routine detention of thousands of asylum seekers, including children, for lengthy periods is an aberration of an already problematic practice. </p>
<h2>Disproportionate political attention</h2>
<p>Detaining asylum seekers as a matter of routine is a new practice in the UK. It has come about as a reaction to the increase in small boats crossing the channel and the lack of asylum accommodation caused by a huge backlog of cases at the Home Office. </p>
<p>The small boats receive disproportionate and inaccurate political and media attention. This includes misrepresenting their occupants as “illegal immigrants”. </p>
<p>In fact, however, these people largely go on to claim –- and are usually granted -– refugee protection. The majority of migrants arriving in small boats, including those from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Eritrea, are found to have genuine protection needs warranting <a href="https://www.ippr.org/news-and-media/press-releases/revealed-two-thirds-of-small-boat-channel-crossings-would-have-asylum-claims-accepted">refugee status</a>. This includes women and children. It is important to remember, as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1097184x15575111">I have pointed out</a> that men are also legitimate refugees, despite the feminised imagery of the “genuine refugee”.</p>
<p>It is true that the numbers of people crossing the channel by small boat are <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-home-office-is-now-publishing-stats-on-irregular-migration-heres-what-they-do-and-dont-tell-us-177955">unprecedented</a>. Five years ago, 300 people arrived this way. In 2022, there have already been over <a href="https://www.ippr.org/research/publications/understanding-the-rise-in-channel-crossings">30,000</a>. </p>
<p>However, the UK receives just 0.5% of the world’s asylum claims and far fewer than many other European countries. Germany, for example, received nearly <a href="https://freemovement.org.uk/putting-small-boat-crossings-in-perspective/?utm_source=Free+Movement&utm_campaign=94d561698d-Asylum+updates&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_792133aa40-94d561698d-116274629&mc_cid=94d561698d&mc_eid=df0d217f99">150,000 asylum claims</a> in 2021. These numbers, in turn, are dwarfed by those from countries further afield. <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/tr/en/refugees-and-asylum-seekers-in-turkey">Turkey</a> currently hosts 3.6 million refugees from Syria alone. </p>
<p>The small boat arrivals are also dwarfed by other groups seeking protection in the UK. The UK has taken in over 133,000 people from <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2022/how-many-people-come-to-the-uk-each-year-including-visitors#british-national-overseas-bno-route">Hong Kong</a> and 195,000 from <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukraine-family-scheme-application-data/ukraine-family-scheme-and-ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-homes-for-ukraine-visa-data--2">Ukraine</a>. </p>
<p>Irregular arrivals by small boat or lorry account for just a quarter of <a href="https://freemovement.org.uk/putting-small-boat-crossings-in-perspective/?utm_source=Free+Movement&utm_campaign=94d561698d-Asylum+updates&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_792133aa40-94d561698d-116274629&mc_cid=94d561698d&mc_eid=df0d217f99">the total refugee arrivals</a> to the UK. Although the number of asylum applications has risen significantly since 2021, the figure is still close to <a href="https://freemovement.org.uk/briefing-the-sorry-state-of-the-uk-asylum-system/">half</a> that of a decade ago. </p>
<h2>A system in crisis</h2>
<p>The UK’s asylum system is indeed in crisis, but not because of those making dangerous journeys to seek protection. To suggest that the terrible conditions people face once they arrive in the UK is their own fault is deeply disingenuous. As Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/01/an-invasion-suella-braverman-refugee-crisis-governments-own-making">has put it</a>, it is a crisis “of the government’s own making”.</p>
<p>The number of people forced to wait over six months for an asylum decision <a href="https://freemovement.org.uk/briefing-the-sorry-state-of-the-uk-asylum-system/">has trebled</a> since 2019. The backlog of people awaiting a decision is now a whopping 100,000. </p>
<p>People are waiting years for a resolution, during which they are kept in a dependent limbo of near destitution. They are forbidden from working, forcing them to rely on the Home Office for housing and subsistence. These amounts are tiny: asylum seekers live off <a href="https://www.scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk/our-calls-for-increases-to-asylum-support/">£5.80 a day</a>. The overall cost of the asylum system, however, is <a href="https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2022/04/14/factsheet-cost-of-asylum-system/">£1.5 billion a year</a>.</p>
<p>These people have a legal right to claim protection from persecution and they are being failed by the UK government. The implications are dire for both them and the public purse. </p>
<p>And the imperatives are clear. When the home secretary blames asylum seekers for the failings of the system, she not only distracts attention from the real causes, she risks fuelling community tensions, normalising xenophobia and ultimately encouraging far-right extremism. </p>
<p>Rather than ineffective and cruel spectacles, such as threatening to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-uks-plans-to-send-asylum-seekers-to-rwanda-raise-four-red-flags-182709">send asylum seekers to Rwanda</a>, the UK needs a functioning asylum system.</p>
<p>Allowing people to live and work in the community while they await asylum decisions would benefit everyone. It would save the huge human and financial costs incurred by overcrowded encampment and forced government dependency.</p>
<p>The government knows that providing safe and legal channels to reach the UK is the ultimate answer. It has shown as much in its response to the war in Ukraine. </p>
<p>The world is turbulent and will only become more so with climate crises. Draconian immigration policies cannot stop people crossing borders. They can only determine how dangerous such journeys are.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193670/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melanie Griffiths has previously received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number ES/K009370/1). </span></em></p>Short-term Home Office facilities are holding people seeking refuge in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions and for far too long. This crisis has political roots.Melanie Griffiths, Assistant Professor and Birmingham Fellow, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1842862022-07-18T12:20:19Z2022-07-18T12:20:19ZMo Farah was trafficked to the UK – the government’s new immigration law could make it harder for modern slavery victims to receive help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473943/original/file-20220713-12-5cbz1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=125%2C17%2C5865%2C3790&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/different-foreign-passports-many-countries-regions-541695331">Chintung Lee / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sir Mo Farah has bravely <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62123886">revealed</a> that he was trafficked to the UK as a child, taken to a new country by a woman he didn’t know and forced to work as a domestic servant.</p>
<p>Farah’s story is harrowing and more common than many think. Modern slavery affects <a href="https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/2018/findings/global-findings/">millions</a> of people around the world, including <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/modern-slavery-national-referral-mechanism-and-duty-to-notify-statistics-uk-end-of-year-summary-2021/modern-slavery-national-referral-mechanism-and-duty-to-notify-statistics-uk-end-of-year-summary-2021">over 10,000 in the UK</a>. Encompassing human trafficking, slavery and forced labour, modern slavery is an especially insidious concept because of how it overlaps with other issues, such as violence against women and girls, organised crime and climate change.</p>
<p>It also often has to do with migration, but not every victim identified is from another country. In the last two years, most modern slavery victims identified in the UK have been UK nationals. But there is a significant proportion who are not British and who are not permitted to remain in the UK once they are identified – they have come to the country from elsewhere, and not always by choice.</p>
<p>Of those who come to the UK, not every modern slavery victim enters the UK illegally. Many will have originally come on valid visas, or pre-Brexit may have entered based on their status as an EU national. </p>
<p>The UK’s new immigration legislation, the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/36/part/5/enacted">Nationality and Borders Act</a>, effectively treats modern slavery as an immigration issue. The changes in the law may appear subtle, but they <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/beacons-of-excellence/rights-lab/resources/reports-and-briefings/2021/october/consideration-paper-nationality-and-borders-bill.pdf">could threaten</a> the UK’s ability to effectively identify, support and protect some of the most vulnerable people in our society.</p>
<p>There are many laws and international legal mechanisms to identify modern slavery and protect those affected, including the European convention on human rights. In the UK, <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1075198/Modern_Slavery_Statutory_Guidance__EW__Non-Statutory_Guidance__SNI__v2.9.1.pdf">guidance</a> published as part of the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/30/section/49/enacted">Modern Slavery Act (2015)</a> outlines the government’s obligations to identify and support all victims of modern slavery.</p>
<p>People who are identified as being victims of modern slavery are entitled to support and protection, as detailed in the <a href="https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/modern-slavery/new-victim-care-contract">Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract</a>. This can include access to accommodation, financial support, translation services, legal advice, medical care, counselling, outreach support and assistance to return to a home country if needed. It also includes the right to not be removed from the UK while their trafficking claim is being accessed. However, not all identified victims have been able to access this support.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/modern-slavery-how-to-identify-and-support-victims/modern-slavery-statutory-guidance-for-england-and-wales-under-s49-of-the-modern-slavery-act-2015-and-non-statutory-guidance-for-scotland-and-northe">Government guidance</a> states that support is to be provided regardless of nationality and regardless of immigration status in the UK. But the Nationality and Borders Act’s emphasis on deportation and removal risks undermining this approach and making it more difficult for victims to access support.</p>
<p>Many people working in the anti-slavery sector, including researchers at the University of Nottingham Rights Lab, were and continue to be concerned about the inclusion of modern slavery in <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/beacons-of-excellence/rights-lab/resources/reports-and-briefings/2021/october/consideration-paper-nationality-and-borders-bill.pdf">immigration legislation</a>.</p>
<h2>How the law changes things</h2>
<p>The government claims support systems are being abused by dangerous criminals and those looking to falsely claim they are victims of trafficking to avoid being deported and to frustrate their removal from the UK. The government’s data shows that this is not true. Of the decisions they made on trafficking cases in 2021, 91% were <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/modern-slavery-national-referral-mechanism-and-duty-to-notify-statistics-uk-end-of-year-summary-2021/modern-slavery-national-referral-mechanism-and-duty-to-notify-statistics-uk-end-of-year-summary-2021">found to be victims</a>. This doesn’t show a system that is being abused. Yet this is the premise for including modern slavery within the Nationality and Borders act.</p>
<p>As it stands, immigration officials have a duty to look for <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/modern-slavery-how-to-identify-and-support-victims">indicators of trafficking</a> at the point someone arrives in the country or during their asylum interview. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An officer sits in a UK Border Control booth as cars drive through the checkpoint in Calais" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473883/original/file-20220713-9316-4ivxxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473883/original/file-20220713-9316-4ivxxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473883/original/file-20220713-9316-4ivxxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473883/original/file-20220713-9316-4ivxxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473883/original/file-20220713-9316-4ivxxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473883/original/file-20220713-9316-4ivxxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473883/original/file-20220713-9316-4ivxxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Border authorities are supposed to look for signs that people entering the country may be victims of modern slavery or trafficking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/calais-france-august-12-2018-member-1227053824">Gary Perkin / Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Nationality and Borders act prioritises the removal of those who have entered the country illegally. As a result, those who have come to the country illegally will first be seen as illegal immigrants, not as potential victims of trafficking. This means that their immigration status will take precedence over their victimhood. The inclusion of new off-shoring and deportation measures means that victims risk being penalised instead of helped. </p>
<p>The government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-and-borders-bill-abuse-of-modern-slavery-protections-factsheet/nationality-and-borders-bill-abuse-of-modern-slavery-protections-factsheet">has said</a> it has no intention of withholding protection from “genuine victims” and that the new legislation will assist the early identification of victims. However, the law also places a time constraint on when they can provide information, or risk their credibility being damaged.</p>
<p>Those entering the UK may first and foremost be seen as an illegal immigrant, not a genuine victim. If they reveal their exploitation while awaiting deportation, this may be viewed by authorities as an attempt to delay their removal, and indicators of trafficking may be missed.</p>
<p>The burden is placed on traumatised people to tell their stories at the moment they arrive in the UK. We know that victims are not always able to reveal what has happened to them. For some, like Mo Farah, it takes many years. If authorities do not identify victims, or victims are unable to articulate what happened to them quickly enough, they may risk being deported without receiving the help they are legally entitled to. </p>
<p>The Queen’s speech announced that further modern slavery legislation is likely to be introduced shortly. While it is yet to be seen what that legislation will entail, the Nationality and Borders act is one way our system is increasingly hostile to the most vulnerable.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>To seek help, for yourself or someone else who may be a victim of modern slavery, you can contact the <a href="https://www.modernslaveryhelpline.org/">Modern Slavery Helpline</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184286/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Garbers is affiliated with Unseen UK, as an Ambassador and is the Chair of Trustees for Hope at Home.</span></em></p>The Nationality and Borders Act could damage the UK’s ability to identify and support vulnerable people.Kate Garbers, Senior Research Fellow in Policy Evidence and Survivor Support, Rights Lab, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1519682021-05-19T14:11:43Z2021-05-19T14:11:43ZHow British community groups are helping refugees integrate – and the government is making it harder<p>For the last 12 years, <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/stories/2019/8/5d4d63714/counting-sheep-refugees-lighten-uk-farmers-load-in-lambing-season.html">a farm in Yorkshire</a> has had refugees from Iran and Sudan volunteer during lambing season. These sessions, set up by the Darwen Asylum Seeker and Refugee Enterprise and the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, help counter the negative mental-health effect of being isolated and in limbo as they wait for their residency status to be confirmed. </p>
<p>Elsewhere in the Dales, the enterprise has arranged for volunteers to pitch in with building dry-stone walls and haymaking. And throughout the UK, as our <a href="https://huddersfield.app.box.com/s/qias4ks55sazc445jaili2zvf06krjst">recent report</a> shows, there are countless other examples of local people, and groups, doing their bit to support refugees in the <a href="http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/28_days_later.pdf">challenges</a> they face, including poverty, unemployment and difficulties in accessing local services. </p>
<p>However, while the government, as well as the public, appear to support the idea of integration, our research shows there is little policy guidance – and state support – about exactly how to do this in practice. </p>
<h2>Inadequate policy</h2>
<p>The so-called migrant <a href="https://theconversation.com/fortress-europe-continues-to-treat-migrants-as-criminals-49026">crisis</a>, which peaked in <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/stories/2015/12/56ec1ebde/2015-year-europes-refugee-crisis.html">2015</a>, has been overshadowed by COVID-19. The situation facing refugees and migrants in Europe, however, has not improved. In some ways the pandemic has <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-you-self-isolate-in-a-refugee-camp-147777">made it worse</a>.</p>
<p>In this context, examining what support – public and private – there is to help refugees is both timely and important. Our research set out to do just that. </p>
<p>Over two years, we interviewed nearly 100 organisations from across the UK’s public sector, the voluntary and community sector and the private sector (from local businesses to transport companies). We focused on the Yorkshire and Humber region, but the findings are likely to be transferable to other areas of the country. </p>
<p>Organised support for refugees remains highly fragmented. Most of the organisations we interviewed said that there are no coherent national policies that positively guide their work. The government not only doesn’t have adequate guidance in place to help refugees settle, it also doesn’t allocate much of the national budget to supporting them. At a more local level too, there isn’t enough strategic leadership on how best to help refugees integrate into their communities.</p>
<p>Instead, most of the people we spoke to said policies designed to make life harder for migrants, which have become known as the “<a href="https://www.jcwi.org.uk/the-hostile-environment-explained">hostile environment</a>”, have made integration harder. While the hostile environment was designed to dissuade migration and remove illegal migrants, it has also created a basis for excluding refugees. It has led to confusion and inefficiencies for the organisations that work with them. </p>
<h2>Private involvement</h2>
<p>Increasingly, organisations including housing associations, arts, culture and heritage-focused charities are working to support refugees both <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/innovation/7-art-initiatives-that-are-transforming-the-lives-of-refugees/">internationally</a> and in the <a href="https://homesforcathy.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Homes-for-refugees-July-2020.pdf">UK</a>. They are often, however, overlooked by research and policy and left to work in isolation from some local authorities and other mainstream partners. </p>
<p>Despite this, they play a huge role in helping refugees understand local culture and geography, access public services and connect with longer-standing residents. The <a href="https://allenlane.org.uk/doncaster-conversation-club/">Doncaster Conversation Club</a>, for example, offers asylum seekers a weekly cup of tea and a bowl of soup, with added English lessons, internet access and help to fill out forms. Crucially, instead of seeing refugees as defined by their status, such organisations treat them as people who have much to share with their non-refugee neighbours.</p>
<h2>Untapped resource</h2>
<p>Senior leaders from many organisations and, notably, employers are absent from the integration debate. While employees might be interested in the social impact their company has, from a business perspective, the companies themselves often don’t feel they have a role to play in helping refugees. </p>
<p>However, the latter often arrive with <a href="http://www.cara1933.org/">skills that are in need</a>, and the <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/value-of-diversity-and-inclusion/refugee-workers.html">motivation to use them</a>. They add to the cultural fabric of the UK – a largely untapped resource for social cohesion and economic growth. </p>
<p>In terms of employment specifically, interviewees said that having refugees in work was routinely seen as a way towards integration and independence. However, there are very few tailored recruitment or training schemes in place in the region offering genuine routes to paid employment. </p>
<p>Despite the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/1951-refugee-convention.html">international agreements</a> in place that those with the ability to provide refuge continue to do so, in times of economic crisis, governments might view pulling up the drawbridge and stopping migrant arrivals as the easy option. It is already happening in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/24/priti-patel-defends-inhumane-overhaul-of-uk-asylum-system">UK</a> and in <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/france-suspend-immigration-ban-barnier-b1845533.html">Europe</a>. </p>
<p>Countries, including the UK, are proposing an even <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/asylum-immigration-plans-queens-speech-home-office-uk-b1845487.html">harder line against refugees</a> in the future. This, despite the <a href="https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/sg_policy_brief_on_people_on_the_move.pdf">enormous contributions</a> made in the struggle against COVID-19 by migrants and refugees themselves. This has been particularly evident in the health system, where refugee doctors and nurses have played a significant role but also in the food supply system where refugees have filled a gap in the agricultural workforce in North America and Europe. </p>
<p>Recent protests in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/13/glasgow-residents-surround-and-block-immigration-van-from-leaving-street">Glasgow</a>, which saw local citizens force UK Immigration Enforcement officers to release two asylum seekers arrested during a dawn raid, show that there are networks of solidarity with refugees in the UK. However, post-pandemic, the resulting economic crisis could potentially lead to <a href="https://blogs.imf.org/2020/12/11/when-inequality-is-high-pandemics-can-fuel-social-unrest/">heightened social tensions</a>. </p>
<p>Minority groups and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/01/refugee-crisis-in-greece-tensions-soar-between-migrants-and-locals.html">recent arrivals</a> are likely to suffer – as they have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/jun/12/history.highereducation">throughout history</a> – by being subjected to increasingly restrictive policies that further control their immigration status and access to welfare. </p>
<p>Refugees will be excluded if we, the electorate, not to mention the policymakers we put in office, continue to think only about what refugees take from a society. Thinking about what they can bring, and helping them do so, as organisations across the country are doing, is central to creating a more <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/moving-up-and-getting-on">cohesive and equal society</a>. They need our support and encouragement to continue their important work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151968/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Brown undertook the work described here with the financial support of the European Union Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire undertook the work described here with the financial support of the European Union Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Martin undertook the work described here with the financial support of the European Union Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund </span></em></p>Amid rising inequality and social tensions, measures must be taken to protect refugees from the backlash and help them settle insteadPhilip Brown, Professor of Housing and Communities, University of HuddersfieldClaire Walkey, Research Assistant, The Centre for Citizenship, Conflict and Diversity, University of HuddersfieldPhilip Martin, Research Assistant, Sustainable Housing & Urban Studies Unit, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1578152021-03-25T17:21:47Z2021-03-25T17:21:47ZWhy Priti Patel’s plans to overhaul the asylum system make no legal sense<p>In what’s been called the most significant overhaul to the asylum system in decades, Home Secretary Priti Patel <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/home-secretarys-statement-on-the-new-plan-for-immigration">has announced</a> a number of controversial plans to deny refugees who use illegal routes to the UK universal rights to asylum. </p>
<p>Under the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/972472/CCS207_CCS0820091708-001_Sovereign_Borders_FULL_v13__1_.pdf">new plans</a>, the home office has said it will “stop illegal arrivals gaining immediate entry into the asylum system if they have travelled through a safe country – like France”. Other measures include introducing “life sentences for people smugglers” and increasing “the maximum sentence for illegally entering the UK”. </p>
<p>These proposals to reform the asylum system with a focus on <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56500680">“fairness”</a> are legally incoherent. As far back as 1999, former supreme court justice Simon Brown recognised that it was “<a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199899/ldhansrd/vo991018/text/91018-26.htm">well nigh impossible</a>” for asylum seekers to enter the UK lawfully. Under the current rules, it’s not possible to apply for asylum until you arrive at the borders of the state you’re entering. </p>
<p>At that point the international obligation of non-refoulement operates, which means asylum seekers can’t be returned to their country of origin until their claim has been fully assessed and there’s deemed to be no risk of harm. The <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/4ca34be29.pdf">Refugee Convention</a>, ratified by 145 countries, also prohibits turning away refugees who enter illegally, providing they can show they’ve come directly from a place of persecution and there’s good cause for their actions. </p>
<p>It’s very important to understand how “entering illegally” arises. Asylum seekers often struggle to obtain official identity documents from the state they’re being persecuted by, and can’t travel legitimately without such documents. <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1987/24/enacted">Carriers’ liability legislation</a> also penalises airlines, train operators and lorry drivers who assist unauthorised entrants, including asylum seekers. </p>
<p>So because it’s not possible to obtain an asylum visa to enter the UK or any other country, the only option for someone wishing to claim asylum is to engage in deception. Even those who intend to seek asylum after arriving through other legal migration channels (as students or visitors, for example) are defined as “illegal entrants” who have “exercised deception”. This “deceptive” entry then works to damage credibility, undermining asylum claims.</p>
<p>Under the UK’s <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/contents">Human Rights Act 1998</a>, the state is obliged to prevent people from being returned to places of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment or cruel and unusual punishment. This obligation is absolute and applies without exception, which means the return of an asylum seeker whose case hasn’t been fully determined would be a clear violation of the Human Rights Act. This is <a href="https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre#%7B%22fulltext%22:%5B%22Soering%22%5D,%22itemid%22:%5B%22001-57619%22%5D%7D">well established</a> by the <a href="https://www.asylumlawdatabase.eu/en/content/ecthr-chahal-v-united-kingdom-application-no-2241493-15-november-1996">case law</a> of the European Convention on Human Rights. </p>
<p>The home secretary’s move to disregard that seems to suggest ignorance of the law. Her position also undermines the principle of hospitality that traditionally made the UK appear tolerant and welcoming for people who fear persecution. It’s this same perception that is one of the <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Chance-or-choice-2010.pdf">most common pull factors</a> cited by asylum seekers who arrive in the UK. </p>
<h2>Asylum applications in the UK</h2>
<p>The rationale for the proposals is also questionable. There <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/asylum-in-the-uk.html">hasn’t been</a> a significant increase in asylum applications over the last decade. And the UK receives less applicants than other European states of comparable size, with France and Germany receiving over four times the number of applications according to 2020 statistics compiled by the UNHCR. The number of arrivals in the UK in 2020 was actually <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2020/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to">down 18%</a> on the previous year. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2019/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to">Around half</a> of all asylum applications lead to protection in the UK. Before this right is recognised, however, many have to appeal, highlighting <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Asylum-Statistics-Feb-2020.pdf">significant problems</a> with first-instance decisions succeeding. </p>
<p>For nationals of some countries, including Iran, Syria, Vietnam and Eritrea, the refugee recognition rate is <a href="https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migration-to-the-uk-asylum/">well over 70%</a>. There’s a real risk of serious harm if people from these countries are returned (even in the event that return is considered a practical option), which suggests a genuine need for protection.</p>
<h2>A broken system</h2>
<p>The bigger problem is the asylum system itself. Since the Home Office <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/07/home-office-abandons-six-month-target-for-asylum-claim-decisions">abandoned its</a> decision-making target of six months for straightforward applications, delays have increased significantly. Many people now wait over a year for their first substantive interview. </p>
<p>I recently <a href="https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/40406/">spoke to a man</a> who had been waiting for a full interview for 18 months and two claimants with fresh asylum claims who had been waiting for over two years for a decision. In those cases, it may be years before a final decision is reached, leaving people unable to work while those with a current asylum claim are expected to survive on <a href="https://www.gov.uk/asylum-support/what-youll-get">£5 a day</a>. </p>
<p>Due to the pandemic, many asylum seekers are also now confined in windowless hotel rooms without any <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/03/after-the-glasgow-hotel-attack-a-week-of-shock-anger-and-compassion">cooking facilities</a>, while others are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/16/former-military-barracks-used-to-house-asylum-seekers-to-shut">detained in army barracks</a>. But despite announcements to close the Penally Barracks in Kent after inspectors declared it “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-56418361">run-down and unsuitable</a>” for accommodation, its sister site, which is also in Kent, has been revealed to have packed asylum seekers into dormitories. This has resulted in <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2021-03-04/revealed-home-office-knew-housing-refugees-at-run-down-barracks-risked-mass-covid-infection">197 cases of COVID-19</a> as well as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4_lVAL-VO8">protests in response</a> to the inhumane conditions.</p>
<p>Last year’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-lessons-learned-review">independent review</a> into the Windrush affair, in which large numbers of Commonwealth citizens were revealed to have been wrongly deported, denied rights or detained by the UK, explains a lot about existing shortfalls in the system. Authored by Wendy Williams, Inspector for Her Majesty’s Inspectorate Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, the review shed a great deal of light on the hostile environment and its impact on the asylum and immigration system. </p>
<p>In fact, this environment in which settling and remaining in the UK has been madde as difficult as possible for immigrants was identified as the source of <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/home-office-windrush-scandal-wendy-williams-lessons-learned-review-a9578201.html">many flawed</a>) asylum and immigration policies, ranging from deportation of British citizens to refusal of life-saving medical medical treatment. Williams <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/oct/14/windrush-report-author-attacks-home-office-response">observed</a> that there had been <a href="https://workpermit.com/news/wendy-williams-blasts-home-office-windrush-report-response-20201018">no significant change</a> despite the home secretary’s paper commitment to address the damning findings.</p>
<p>This is the reality of the UK’s asylum system that the home secretary is refusing to acknowledge. Although strong reminders of the need to recognise these issues have come from far and wide, including the UNHCR and refugee charities (most of which have expressed <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56500680">complete dismay</a> at Patel’s announcement), it seems the home secretary is adamant about pushing forward. Where evidence of fairness is in all of this remains to be seen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157815/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen O'Nions does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The human rights act dictates that the UK is obliged to protect asylum seekers. So why is the home secretary ignoring it?Helen O'Nions, Associate Professor, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1485742020-11-20T15:53:10Z2020-11-20T15:53:10ZNobody is born a migrant – but it’s a label people on the move struggle to escape<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370410/original/file-20201119-17-2xftlh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C58%2C5491%2C3816&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The migrant label sticks. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chief Crow Daria/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54717137">tragic death</a> of four members of a Kurdish-Iranian family attempting to cross the English Channel in late October was a stark reminder of the dangerous lengths people go to try and find safety, particularly in the absence of safe, legal means to seek protection.</p>
<p>No one is born a migrant. Instead, people are constructed as migrants through the ways they are positioned and treated by society. And this uninvited label can have serious effects on how integrated they feel. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.manchesterhive.com/view/9781526138125/9781526138125.00012.xml">our recent research</a>, we explored the way a migrant identity is assigned to people on the move. Once people are defined as a migrant – by the state, by the media, or by society – it can feel like that label surpasses all other aspects of their identity. They are portrayed as perpetual foreigners, continually marked by their history of moving from one place to another.</p>
<p>We call this process “migrantification”. It’s a phenomenon specific to this moment in the 21st century, which is marked by the hyper-politicisation of population movements across the world’s increasingly militarised borders.</p>
<p>Migrantification brings together the various techniques used to class people into subcategories such as economic migrant, refugee, asylum seeker or illegal migrant. But it also covers the overarching process of making people into migrants in places where the word represents both a formal status in the eyes of the state and a social and political identity.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-difference-between-asylum-seekers-refugees-and-economic-migrants-45615">Explainer: the difference between asylum seekers, refugees and economic migrants</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Made into a migrant</h2>
<p>In our interviews and workshops held in London, Birmingham and Nottingham in the UK, and in Pisa and Bologna in Italy in 2017, we asked more than 30 people who had been displaced by conflicts and violence to reflect on how they have been constructed as migrants in their encounters with the state, public institutions, media and other members of society.</p>
<p>Most of the people who we interviewed and became collaborators on the project either were, or had been, in the asylum system. Some had achieved refugee status and some in the UK had taken British citizenship, although this was not the case in Italy. Others had had their asylum claims refused and were living through the painful uncertainty of the appeal process.</p>
<p>We were interested in the moments of recognition when people understood that others viewed them as migrants. In their responses, it became clear that some key terms of immigration control had infiltrated everyday life as new forms of stigma. In particular, the status of asylum seeker was regarded as a highly stigmatised identity. Many of our participants chose not to reveal this status in their day-to-day interactions. One Kurdish man living in Birmingham told us he never mentioned he was an asylum seeker. “If you did, they’d speak to you as a contagious disease.”</p>
<p>Some characterised being a migrant specifically in terms of being subject to state surveillance and control. For example, one man in Pisa traced the moment of being made a migrant to the moment when he was fingerprinted on his arrival in Italy from Burkina Faso without his consent. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We were brought into a military building and after a while they took our fingerprints with a few words. ‘No worry. No worry. Then you’re free.‘ I didn’t know that those fingerprints, taken without any consent, would trap me in Italy for many years to come. Those fingerprints made me a migrant? Maybe. But a migrant without the right to move.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the UK, some people found being made a migrant meant recognising how easily they were scapegoated by the media. One woman in Birmingham said the constant conversation about immigration by the UK’s main political parties meant that she feels “all the time that I am an immigrant”. She said it felt like politicians were playing a game, speaking about immigration in an effort to increase their performance in the polls. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-the-uk-governments-draconian-immigration-policy-explained-95460">Hostile environment: the UK government's draconian immigration policy explained</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Double standards</h2>
<p>There was also a sense that even for those who showed that they had been a “model immigrant” – by taking British citizenship, or being professionally successful – found they were still categorised as a migrant. This is because being a migrant means never being integrated enough. Our participants were keenly aware of the double standard in expectations to integrate. </p>
<p>As one man living in London, who had got British citizenship, told us he thinks that everybody sees them as a migrant because of their skin and accent. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m fed up of people telling me ‘you need to integrate’, so I started to think ‘what do we mean by integration?’ I need to go to the pub to integrate? OK, I accept going with you, but will you come with me on the second day when I asked you to smoke shisha and drink coffee? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s this double standard which is at the heart of migrantification: around who has the freedom to move and who does not, who has to risk their life crossing deadly borders and who does not, and ultimately – who is treated with suspicion and who is not.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148574/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research which formed the basis of this article was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (Grant # AH/N008200/1).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Federico Oliveri received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for the research in this article. He is a member of Partito della Rifondazione Comunista. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gargi Bhattacharyya is affiliated with TUC Race Relations Committee and has been involved in campaigns against racist violence, unjust immigration controls and for housing rights. The research in this article was funded by a grant from the AHRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janna Graham received an Arts and Humanities Research Council grant for the Conflict, Memory, Displacement project (research on migrantification) under the AHRC PACCs programme. She is a member of Precarious Workers Brigade who has in the past been politically active around issues of precarious labour in the arts and cultural sectors.</span></em></p>It’s other people who label somebody a migrant – and it’s a label that sticks.Kirsten Forkert, Reader in Media Theory, Birmingham City UniversityFederico Oliveri, Research Fellow in Legal and Political Theory, University of PisaGargi Bhattacharyya, Professor of Sociology, University of East LondonJanna Graham, Lecturer in Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1441482020-09-09T12:04:21Z2020-09-09T12:04:21ZThe UK immigration system is broken – coronavirus and Brexit will make it even worse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357022/original/file-20200908-24-rwf21j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C35%2C2964%2C2209&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A detainee holds a hand against her cell window at Yarl's Wood Detention Centre, Bedford.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bedfordshire-uk-08-aug-2015-detainee-351707972">Pete Maclaine/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.2012.692799">Long waiting times</a> for asylum seekers, the tightening of rules for <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/student-visa-rules-tightened-by-government/2014823.article">student visas</a> – and more recently, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gYRREyjC1LW9Mk4fReeS848kHbtPK2ao/view">convoluted procedures</a> for EU citizens – are just some of the issues with the UK immigration system. A system that will likely get even worse given the impact of Brexit and the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2020/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to">backlog of cases</a> created by the coronavirus pandemic.</p>
<p>This all comes at a time when the UK immigration system is undergoing significant change. Freedom of movement for EU citizens will come to a stop by the end of 2020 in the UK. And a new <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-points-based-immigration-system-will-lead-to-care-crisis-143299">points-based system</a> is being introduced.</p>
<p>This could lead to more delays, backlogs, refused visa requests and an increase in enforced removals and detention of asylum seekers by immigration officials. As it stands, in 2019, 48% of asylum seekers were <a href="https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/deportation-and-voluntary-departure-from-the-uk/">forcibly returned</a> to their home country – with 98% of those made to return kept in detention while in the UK.</p>
<p>And according to The British Educational Research Association, international students are also <a href="https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/international-students-and-covid-19-what-is-the-current-advice">at risk</a> of removal given their inability to study during lockdown. </p>
<h2>Who gets to stay</h2>
<p>Part of the problem in all of this is that the UK immigration system aims to create a “<a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-the-uk-governments-draconian-immigration-policy-explained-95460">hostile environment</a>” that makes staying in the UK as difficult as possible for people. Access to work is restricted as is housing, healthcare and bank accounts, with zero attention paid to the integration of asylum seekers. The hope is that people choose to “voluntarily leave”.</p>
<p>The UK also lacks a clear stance on the <a href="https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/2017/is-voluntary-return-the-new-way-forward-for-managing-irregular-migration/">enforced return</a> of travellers and migrants to their place of origin. The UK has not signed the <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32008L0115&from=EN">EU Return Directive</a> which provides criteria as to when return migration should occur. And instead, the government has said it will formulate its <a href="https://www.ippr.org/files/images/media/files/publication/2013/02/returning-migrants-EU-130220_10371.pdf">own policy</a> in this area. </p>
<p>The focus of which is likely to remain on <a href="https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/2017/is-voluntary-return-the-new-way-forward-for-managing-irregular-migration/">controlling immigration</a>, so will likely build upon the present circumstances whereby enforced removal of asylum seekers is used to serve political purposes and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/24/british-hypocrisy-migrants">reduce immigration numbers</a> – with seemingly little regard for migrants’ circumstances.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Protest placards outside immigration detention centre." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357025/original/file-20200908-20-nwf5no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357025/original/file-20200908-20-nwf5no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357025/original/file-20200908-20-nwf5no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357025/original/file-20200908-20-nwf5no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357025/original/file-20200908-20-nwf5no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357025/original/file-20200908-20-nwf5no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357025/original/file-20200908-20-nwf5no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Morton Hall immigration detention centre, which has seen high levels of self-harm and violence, is to close and revert to being a prison.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/morton-halllincolnshireuk-january-20th-2018-eighty-1277329099">Ian Francis/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Back in 2007, a <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-we-do/networks/european_migration_network/reports/docs/emn-studies/return-migration/11._uk_emn_ncp_return_country_study_final_12apr07not_for_publishing_en.pdf">report</a> for the European Migration Network stated that more research needs to be carried out on enforced and voluntary returns within the UK. The report highlighted how, without this, it would be difficult for evidence-based changes to be made. </p>
<p>But research still remains limited and unsystematic. And the Home Office statistics still lack considerable detail – with often only <a href="https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/deportation-and-voluntary-departure-from-the-uk/">limited information</a> available as to the reasons for a person’s removal. </p>
<h2>Windrush legacy</h2>
<p>The Windrush scandal is a prime example of this issue. <a href="https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/commonwealth-migrants-arriving-1971-year-ending-june-2017/">The Migration Observatory</a> estimates that 57,000 migrants who arrived in UK before 1973 were put at risk of deportation, homelessness and unemployment. In some cases people were also refused <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/windrush-scandal-nhs-cancer-treatment-high-court-legal-challenge-ruling-home-office-a8675781.html">NHS medical treatment</a>.</p>
<p>The Home Office believes that 160 Windrush migrants have been incorrectly detained or deported since 2002. The 2018 government-sponsored <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/874022/6.5577_HO_Windrush_Lessons_Learned_Review_WEB_v2.pdf">Windrush Lessons Learned Review</a> has since emphasised the need to improve monitoring and evaluating of immigration policy with a focus on equality and human rights. It also suggests measures should tackle the “target-driven” culture within the Home Office, along with a simplification of the system.</p>
<p>A compensation scheme has also been set up. But has proved to be not fit for purpose – with nine in ten Windrush applicants still <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/windrush-compensation-payout-delay-home-office-a9692251.html">awaiting payment</a>. The scheme has also been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/27/windrush-payout-scheme-not-fit-for-purpose-say-lawyers">criticised</a> for its complicated bureaucratic procedures and the lack of legal aid given to applicants.</p>
<h2>A changing system?</h2>
<p>In a bid to tackle some of these criticisms, the government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/priti-patel-takes-action-to-implement-windrush-recommendations">has promised</a> mandatory training for all Home Office staff on the history of migration and race in the UK. It’s hoped that this, along with a higher proportion of BAME employees in senior roles, will offer a more compassionate “people not cases” approach. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Protestors outside immigration detention centre." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357029/original/file-20200908-16-6d17th.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357029/original/file-20200908-16-6d17th.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357029/original/file-20200908-16-6d17th.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357029/original/file-20200908-16-6d17th.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357029/original/file-20200908-16-6d17th.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357029/original/file-20200908-16-6d17th.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357029/original/file-20200908-16-6d17th.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Around a third of immigration detainees are held for longer than 28 days.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/morton-halllincolnshireuk-january-20th-2018-eighty-1277329126">Ian Francis/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The government has also committed to opening up the Home Office to greater scrutiny and to impact assessments on the potential implications of policies. But this all contrasts sharply with Brexit and the UK goverenment’s overall aggressive approach towards immigration. </p>
<p>Just look at the way the <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2020/05/06/there-are-cracks-in-the-eu-settlement-scheme-who-will-fall-through-them/">EU Settlement Scheme</a> – for EU citizens who want to remain in the UK – has been rolled out. Along with the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gYRREyjC1LW9Mk4fReeS848kHbtPK2ao/view">significant impact</a> it has had upon people’s mental health, wellbeing and sense of belonging in Britain. And problems accessing the scheme have only got worse as a result of COVID-19. </p>
<p>The UK parliament has reacted strongly against the conservative government’s approach to this settlement scheme, fearing discrimination of EU citizens and another “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/07/eu-parks-post-brexit-demands-avoid-early-clash-boris-johnson-ursula-von-der-leyen">Windrush catastrophe</a>”. </p>
<p>Ultimately though a system that seems to disregard <a href="https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/is-england-fairer-2016-most-disadvantaged-groups-migrants-refugees-asylum-seekers.pdf">fundamental human rights</a> in the way it <a href="https://www.ippr.org/files/2020-09/access-denied-hostile-environment-sept20.pdf">regulates and processes people</a> is bound to continue creating vulnerability for migrants. And no doubt the impact of Brexit and the pandemic will only make this worse.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144148/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zana Vathi receives funding from IMISCOE as part of the Research Initiative 'Revisiting Return Migration in Shifting Geopolitics'.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Carney does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This is a system that will likely become even worse given the impact of Brexit and the backlog of cases created by the pandemic.Zana Vathi, Reader in Social Sciences, Edge Hill UniversitySamantha Carney, PhD Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant in Social Sciences, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1259892019-10-30T13:32:09Z2019-10-30T13:32:09ZHow to prevent the deaths of more Vietnamese migrants trying to reach Britain<p>As the <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/essex-lorry-deaths-police-appeal-to-vietnamese-community-in-bid-to-identify-victims-11847885">painstaking work to identify</a> the bodies of 39 people found in a container in Essex, south-east England, continues, it’s become an agonising wait for the families of Vietnamese migrants who believe their loved ones may have died. After the police initially identified them as Chinese, it now seems likely that <a href="https://www.channel4.com/news/more-than-20-vietnamese-families-report-missing-loved-ones">many were Vietnamese</a>. </p>
<p>I’ve been researching the issue of smuggling and trafficking of people from Vietnam to the UK for the past ten years and have observed British government efforts on several fronts – both in the UK and Vietnam – to reduce the prospect of a tragedy such as this occurring. </p>
<p>The UK <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/498025/Evaluation-Long-term-dev-cooperation-between-UK-Vietnam.pdf">allocated £481m</a> of general bilateral aid funding to Vietnam between 2001 and 2015. Since 2015, the British government has continued to invest tens of millions in anti-trafficking projects there, such as building shelters for trafficked victims who have returned to Vietnam, as well providing anti-trafficking training and resources to Vietnamese law enforcement. </p>
<p>Continued efforts have improved law enforcement cooperation between the UK and Vietnam. This culminated in <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/vital-action-taken-in-fight-against-modern-slavery">late 2018</a> with the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding on human trafficking that allowed for greater collaboration around intelligence sharing, supporting victims and prevention work.</p>
<p>But operating in Vietnam is difficult for the British government. Preventing migration to the UK is not a priority for the Vietnamese government, and they are also faced with <a href="https://ghrp.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s41256-017-0049-4">people trafficking</a> into China, Malaysia and Thailand. </p>
<p>For many migrants, the first move from Vietnam on the journey is via a Russian visa where the UK is powerless to intercede. Vietnamese law enforcement agencies are also complicated partners. This was demonstrated by the 2017 kidnapping of Trinh Xuan Thanh, a Vietnamese businessman claiming asylum in Germany, who the German government <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/world/europe/vietnam-germany-abduction-suspect-extradite.html">accused the Vietnamese state of kidnapping</a>. Tanh was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vietnam-security/court-hands-vietnam-oil-official-another-life-sentence-for-corruption-idUSKBN1FP0FU">sentenced to life imprisonment</a> in Vietnam in 2018. </p>
<p>Vietnam also <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335139932_The_Changing_Nature_of_Death_Penalty_in_Vietnam_A_Historical_and_Legal_Inquiry">still uses the death penalty</a> and, while improving, there are issues of police corruption to contend with.</p>
<h2>What has been tried in the UK</h2>
<p>One common destination for Vietnamese migrants who arrive in the UK is <a href="https://theconversation.com/trafficked-to-grow-cannabis-vietnamese-migrants-are-being-exploited-in-britain-83738">cannabis cultivation</a> farms. Since the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/30/contents/enacted">Modern Day Slavery Act</a> was passed in 2015, there has been a step change in the way these Vietnamese migrants are routinely <a href="https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/human-trafficking-smuggling-and-slavery">treated by the police</a> and the Crown Prosecution Service. Before then, if found cultivating cannabis they were routinely arrested and prosecuted – regardless of the circumstances. Now, Section 45 of the Modern Day Slavery Act provides explicit legal protection for those caught cultivating cannabis, whether adults or children, if they are being compelled to work in this environment. Still, this change is not always implemented and does not yet apply in Scotland.</p>
<p>The Modern Day Slavery Act led to the creation of the role of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, and the first commissioner Kevin Hyland took a personal interest in Vietnam, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-seeks-stronger-co-operation-with-vietnam-to-stop-modern-slavery-as-new-measures-come-into-force">visiting the country in 2015</a>. He also commissioned me to <a href="https://www.antislaverycommissioner.co.uk/media/1159/iasc-report-combating-modern-slavery-experience-by-vietname-nationals-en-route-to-and-within-the-uk.pdf">do research</a> on the issue, detailing the types of routes Vietnamese people use to get to the UK. </p>
<p>Alongside these efforts – and often running contrary to them – has been the government’s “hostile” (now “compliant”) environment immigration policy, aimed at <a href="https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/LLN-2018-0064">making life difficult</a> for people without permission to remain in the UK. This included a series of measures contained within the immigration acts of 2014 and 2016. Most relevant to the Vietnamese were the introduction of stronger criminal sanctions to deter illegal working, targeted at both employers and employees. The hostile environment has resulted in lots of raids on Vietnamese-owned premises and deportations to Vietnam. Some of those <a href="https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/10/article/vietnamese-dope-farms-getting-brits-high/">convicted of growing cannabis</a> have also been deported back to Vietnam. </p>
<p>Yet according the National Referral Mechanism, the UK’s tool used to determine whether someone is a victim of trafficking or not, <a href="https://nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/who-we-are/publications/282-national-referral-mechanism-statistics-end-of-year-summary-2018/file">Vietnamese are still the third most commonly</a> trafficked group. </p>
<h2>Looking for solutions</h2>
<p>Despite this, too many of the UK’s efforts in Vietnam have been badged under anti-trafficking measures. But the reality, as my <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17440570903475683">research and interviews</a> with Vietnamese migrants and law enforcement officials has shown, is that much of the migration is economic in nature. </p>
<p>Migration from Vietnam not only continues, but people are migrating from new areas. Whereas the majority of migration was from the northern provinces of Hai Phong and Quảng Ninh, migrants are now also coming from provinces in central Vietnam, including Nghệ An, Quảng Bình and Hà Tĩnh.</p>
<p>This means that further promotion of the International Migration Organisation’s “<a href="https://gmdac.iom.int/understanding-and-measuring-safe-migration">safe migration</a>” message, specifically targeted at high-risk communities, may be more effective in reducing the relative attractiveness of going to the UK than focusing on the risks of trafficking. While this would be far from simple to instigate – and would need to happen at the provincial level in Vietnam – the UK has built up some effective relationships at the national and provincial level that could help. </p>
<p>In the UK, despite the government’s efforts, the exploitation of Vietnamese migrants continues. It’s still possible to earn enough in irregular employment in the UK, often in nail bars, restaurants or cannabis cultivation to make the journey worthwhile. <a href="https://www.antislaverycommissioner.co.uk/media/1159/iasc-report-combating-modern-slavery-experience-by-vietname-nationals-en-route-to-and-within-the-uk.pdf">Earnings can range</a> from £300 to thousands per week, while journey costs vary from £10,000 to £30,000, depending on the route. </p>
<p>The solutions, in the UK at least, are political. One option is to further reinforce efforts around the compliant environment. Notwithstanding <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Windrush_Betrayal.html?id=RNmcDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y">the human costs recently epitomised</a> in the Windrush scandal, this would need an enormous investment in immigration and border enforcement. This approach is impractical and unaffordable. </p>
<p>This is because, as it stands – according to a <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/631668/An-inspection-of-Border-Force-operations-at-east-coast-seaports.pdf">recent inspection report</a> by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and immigration – many ports remain unvisited by the UK Border Force. In 2015, the Illegal Working Steering Group chaired by the immigration enforcement director of operations <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/800641/An_inspection_of_the_Home_Office_s_approach_to_Illegal_Working_Published_May_2018.PDF">noted in an internal report</a> that “the size of the illegal working problem is greater than our capacity to enforce it through traditional arrest activity”. Even to visit the estimated illegal businesses with their current resources would take “29-37 years”, the report said.</p>
<p>An alternative approach would be to reform the laws around cannabis and potentially to legalise it, a <a href="https://www.libdems.org.uk/cannabis">policy platform of the Liberal Democrats</a>. This might reduce the lucrativeness of working in the UK and put it more in line with other European countries, which the Vietnamese currently pass through.</p>
<p>Whatever the political decisions taken from here, what’s needed is a sustained engagement with Vietnamese communities, both within the UK and in Vietnam. They are best placed to advise on changing migration trends and in crafting the appropriate messages to future migrants.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Silverstone has received funding from the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and The Home Office.</span></em></p>It’s feared many of the 39 people found dead in a lorry in southeast England were Vietnamese. What else could be done to prevent another such tragedy from happening again?Daniel Silverstone, Director of the School of Justice Studies, Liverpool John Moores UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1203062019-07-18T12:19:37Z2019-07-18T12:19:37ZDoctors as border police: what happened to ‘first, do no harm’?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284529/original/file-20190717-147303-6ftjsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not a doctor's domain.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/776066968?src=yUdN-57WxeVBwNLt-SXoXg-2-0&studio=1&size=medium_jpg">EQRoy/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Building trust and acting in the patient’s best interests are guiding principles of medical practice. This is especially true when caring for vulnerable and marginalised people, such as undocumented migrants. They often delay going to the doctor and find it hard to discuss their <a href="https://www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/what-we-stand-for/supporting-medics/safe-surgeries-initiative/safe-surgeries-toolkit/">problems, personal history and social situation</a>. But some countries, including the UK and US, are now actively undermining the doctor-patient relationship.</p>
<p>Two case studies published together in the <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1811607">NEJM</a> – one from the UK, the other from the US – show how state pressure for medical involvement with anti-immigration policies hinders the duties of healthcare professionals. The case studies (composites to protect patients’ identities) describe how doctors and nurses found themselves caught up in national strategies to target and deport undocumented migrants.</p>
<h2>Two patients put at risk of deportation</h2>
<p>In London, Ms Z, a victim of trafficking and sexual exploitation, arrived in an emergency department suffering from anxiety and post-traumatic stress. The attending doctor told Ms Z how to register with a local GP where she could continue to get free care. As she was leaving the hospital, she was arrested and taken to a detention centre. </p>
<p>The doctor found out later that Nurse M, who had admitted Ms Z, called the police believing that because she could not produce identity documents she was “illegal” and therefore not entitled to care. The nurse’s action was a direct response to recent training she’d attended about the new <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/nhs-visitor-and-migrant-cost-recovery-programme">NHS Visitor and Migrant Cost Recovery Programme</a> that restricts free access to hospital care for migrants who are said to be attracted to the UK because of its health and welfare system.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in Baltimore, US, Gloria, an undocumented migrant from Mexico, brought her disabled son, D, to a community paediatrician. According to the law, Gloria’s son is an American citizen because he was born in the US. The paediatrician knew that Gloria was anxious about government plans to increase deportations. Gloria described a recent attempted raid on her home by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. </p>
<p>The doctor, worried about the health effects of parental deportation on D’s health provided Gloria with information about her legal rights. Another doctor, however, reported the paediatrician to the hospital’s legal office who reprimanded her for providing such information to an illegal immigrant believing this advice fell outside the duties of a doctor.</p>
<h2>Public attitudes shaping healthcare policy</h2>
<p>In both these cases, a healthcare professional acting in a patient’s best interest was undermined by a colleague effectively acting on behalf of the border and immigration authorities. What should clinicians do when state priorities and policies conflict with patient needs?</p>
<p>In response to public concern about migration and pressure from the political right, governments on both sides of the Atlantic have introduced strategies that restrict migrants’ access to welfare and increase deportations. </p>
<p>In the UK, Theresa May reduced access to healthcare by introducing charges for hospital care for the first time since the NHS was formed in 1947. The NHS is no longer universal (free for everyone). Hospitals have managers patrolling wards searching for people to charge and accountants to collect debts (much like in US hospitals). Doctors are expected to police access to care. The NHS has also shared patients’ addresses from their <a href="https://www.digitalhealth.net/2018/03/nhs-digital-home-office-data-sharing-mps/">electronic GP records with the Home Office</a> so they could be found and deported.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284531/original/file-20190717-147275-1c688gp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284531/original/file-20190717-147275-1c688gp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284531/original/file-20190717-147275-1c688gp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284531/original/file-20190717-147275-1c688gp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284531/original/file-20190717-147275-1c688gp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284531/original/file-20190717-147275-1c688gp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284531/original/file-20190717-147275-1c688gp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Theresa May’s government created a hostile environment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/1026507889?src=VukS6Uh1AGs7n-Mc5r6pfA-1-4&studio=1&size=medium_jpg">photocosmos1/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Healthcare in the US is not universal. <a href="https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletter-article/undocumented-immigrants-excluded-affordable-care-act">The Affordable Care Act (2010)</a> extended coverage to the uninsured but excluded undocumented immigrants. Family separation as a result of an escalation in deportations, as in the above case, is a key tactic of US anti-immigrant policy, further <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2735685">increasing concerns</a> for migrant-patient welfare.</p>
<h2>Speaking out</h2>
<p>Healthcare professionals are resisting the idea that some migrants are unworthy of healthcare. In the UK, doctors have advocated for their excluded patients, and <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/20/health-care-immigration-enforcement-222640">lobbied</a> (alongside NGOs) to <a href="http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/health-and-social-care-committee/memorandum-of-understanding-on-datasharing-between-nhs-digital-and-the-home-office/written/76673.html">end data-sharing</a> with the Home Office. The British Medical Association, representing 155,000 doctors, voted on June 25, 2019, for the migrant charge to be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jun/25/scrap-upfront-nhs-charges-for-migrants-says-bma">scrapped</a> because people have died and because it undermines the NHS. </p>
<p>In the US, physician organisations, such as the <a href="https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/AAPStatementonProtectingImmigrantChildren.aspx">American Association of Pediatrics</a>, have spoken out, supporting migrant patients and legislation that would protect hospitals from ICE activities. When faced with a choice, trust and the patient’s interests come first.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120306/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:a.berlin@qmul.ac.uk">a.berlin@qmul.ac.uk</a> is a Member of Medact, a volunteer for the Foundation for Family Medicine in Palestine and previously volunteered for the Helen Bamber Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Koski-Karell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Doctors in the US and UK are being urged to act as immigration officials. But doctors are resisting.Anita Berlin, Clinical Professor of Primary Care Education, Queen Mary University of LondonVictoria Koski-Karell, MD/PhD Anthropology Candidate, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1128202019-03-06T15:31:54Z2019-03-06T15:31:54ZTheresa May’s failing hostile environment: immigration checks by landlords breach human rights<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262408/original/file-20190306-100781-1e24lwb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C49%2C5472%2C3587&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The evidence is against her. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/prime-minister-uk-theresa-may-eu-1040515042">Alexandros Michailidis/Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The “right-to-rent” scheme was a cornerstone of Theresa May’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-the-uk-governments-draconian-immigration-policy-explained-95460">hostile environment</a>, which she put in place during her time as home secretary to curb illegal migration to the UK. Since 2016, <a href="https://www.rla.org.uk/landlord/guides/preparing-landlords-for-the-right-to-rent.shtml">the scheme</a> has required landlords to check the status of their tenants by reviewing identification documents – a passport, for example. If landlords fail to comply, they can face fines of up to £3,000 or up to five years in prison.</p>
<p>This controversial policy has been <a href="https://jcwi.org.uk/blog/2015/09/03/right-rent-checks-result-discrimination-against-those-who-appear-%E2%80%98foreign%E2%80%99">criticised by campaigners</a>, who are concerned that it could cause discrimination and prevent migrants, ethnic minorities and vulnerable people from finding a home in the private rental sector. Now, the UK’s high court has found that the scheme leads to discrimination against some of the UK’s most vulnerable citizens breaches human rights. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2019/452.pdf">his verdict</a>, handed down on March 1, 2019, Justice Spencer also blocked the roll-out of the policy across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Of course, the government has the chance to appeal and this is probably not the end of court cases on this policy. But a growing body of research indicates that the policy is not only ineffective, but also could be harming UK citizens. </p>
<h2>Mounting evidence</h2>
<p>Research I conducted for the <a href="https://research.rla.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/state-intervention-into-renting-2017-report.pdf">Residential Landlords Association in 2017</a> found that landlords’ concerns over prosecution due to this policy caused them to discriminate even against legal migrants, with 42% of landlords saying that they were less likely to let to someone who did not have a British passport. </p>
<p>One year on, in further research <a href="https://research.rla.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/right-to-rent-impact-private-renting-2018.pdf">for the RLA</a>, my colleagues and I found that this had increased to 44% of landlords. This shows that there is still pressure on landlords to discriminate, for fear of prosecution if they get something wrong. </p>
<p>These findings are consistent with those of the <a href="https://www.jcwi.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=ffcde3b5-e590-4b8e-931c-5ecf280e1bc8">Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants</a> (JCWI). In mystery shopper exercises, the council found that British Black Minority Ethnic (BME) citizens without a passport were more likely to receive negative responses from landlords than those who could provide a passport. </p>
<p>But, the council also found that there was no racial discrimination between non-BME citizens and British BME citizens who could provide a passport, when they applied for tenancies. The JCWI argued that this proved the discrimination was due to the right to rent policy, rather than any underlying racism. </p>
<p>The UK government itself had found that <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/775002/EPLS_main_report.pdf">25% of landlords</a> were unwilling to let to those without a British passport. All of this evidence underpinned the arguments which helped to decide the high court case, where Justice Spencer ruled that the right to rent scheme breaches the Human Rights Act because it causes landlords to discriminate when they otherwise would not have. </p>
<h2>An ineffective policy</h2>
<p>The case not only found that the policy was causing discrimination, the <a href="https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2019/452.pdf">judge also said</a> that the government had failed to demonstrate that the policy was effective at encouraging undocumented migrants to leave. </p>
<p>In 2018, the policy came under criticism from the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/inspection-report-published-right-to-rent">Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration</a>. In his report, he criticised the Home Office for failing to evaluate and assess the impact of the scheme and concluded that the right to rent policy was failing “to demonstrate its worth”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262423/original/file-20190306-100802-1v4m10i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262423/original/file-20190306-100802-1v4m10i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262423/original/file-20190306-100802-1v4m10i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262423/original/file-20190306-100802-1v4m10i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262423/original/file-20190306-100802-1v4m10i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262423/original/file-20190306-100802-1v4m10i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262423/original/file-20190306-100802-1v4m10i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Major failures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-november-2018-home-office-department-1243985446">Willy Barton/Shutterstock.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the government’s own <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA13-24E.pdf">impact assessment</a>, it estimated that 830 civil penalty notices would be issued to landlords as a result of the right to rent policy each year. </p>
<p>But in our <a href="https://research.rla.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/right-to-rent-impact-private-renting-2018.pdf">research for the RLA</a> we found that, since 2016, there had been fewer than 700 reports to the Home Office by a landlord that their tenant did not have the right to rent, while the Home Office itself had only issued just over 400 civil penalty notices to landlords across England. So far, there have been no criminal prosecutions under the policy. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-in-britain-hasnt-put-off-irregular-immigrants-but-its-increased-their-suffering-106127">'Hostile environment' in Britain hasn't put off irregular immigrants – but it's increased their suffering</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Given that the scheme is estimated to cost <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA13-24E.pdf">£106m</a> the low levels of enforcement by the Home Office raise serious questions about the scheme’s effectiveness. </p>
<h2>Unintended consequences</h2>
<p>The purpose of the policy was to create a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/oct/10/immigration-bill-theresa-may-hostile-environment">hostile environment</a>” for those living in the UK without leave to remain, by preventing them from accessing the basic necessities for a normal life, such as a home. But <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2018/how-many-people-are-detained-or-returned">government data</a> shows that both voluntary and forced returns have fallen each year since 2015. </p>
<p>The evidence shows that this policy is causing discrimination and <a href="https://theconversation.com/even-before-brexit-theresa-mays-laws-made-britain-a-hostile-place-for-migrants-62467">deep divisions</a> in society, while actual enforcement by the government has been lacklustre. What’s more, the scheme is also likely to lead to further unintended consequences, which affect some of the most vulnerable people in society. </p>
<p>At the last census, <a href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160107124139/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_310441.pdf">17% of the population</a> were found not to have a passport. This means that some of the most vulnerable (such as those who are homeless) or those without documentation (such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/windrush-generation-the-history-of-unbelonging-95021">Windrush generation</a>) who do actually have the right to rent, have been unfairly locked out of a home because of this policy. </p>
<p>The case has confirmed previous research findings that the hostile environment is causing deep divisions and discrimination across communities. If the UK is to reunite after Brexit and create a more inclusive society, the government must abandon this ineffective, discriminatory approach.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112820/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Simcock receives funding from the Residential Landlords Association to undertake research on welfare reforms and the impact of Universal Credit on the private rented sector. Tom previously worked for the Residential Landlords Association as a Senior Researcher. </span></em></p>The right to rent scheme has been found by the high court to breach human rights. What’s more, it doesn’t work, and can prevent society’s most vulnerable from finding a home.Tom Simcock, Research Fellow, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1070662018-11-20T14:29:30Z2018-11-20T14:29:30Z‘Compliant environment’: turning ordinary people into border guards should concern everyone in the UK<p>In a small victory for those fighting against the creeping demands of the UK government’s immigration system, an NHS data service has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/12/home-office-scraps-scheme-that-used-nhs-data-to-track-migrants">withdrawn from an agreement</a> in which it provided information on suspected irregular immigrants to the Home Office. The agreement was part of what was the government’s “hostile environment” strategy for suspected irregular immigrants, publicly <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/sajid-javid-immigration-hostile-compliant-environment-marr-a8381711.html0">rebranded</a> as a “compliant environment” by Home Secretary Sajid Javid in June 2018. </p>
<p>In recent years, landlords, employers, education staff and health professionals have <a href="https://theconversation.com/welcome-to-britain-where-everybody-is-expected-to-be-a-border-guard-75148">become increasingly responsible</a> for checking the immigration status of their tenants, employees, students and patients. The hostile environment became more palpable to those it targeted and those compelled to administer it through two consecutive immigration acts in 2014 and 2016. </p>
<p>The latest change in language from “hostile” to “compliant” aimed to detoxify policies that are reaching deeper and deeper into everyday life, drawing ordinary people into the roles of border guards. And against which different civil society groups continue to fight. </p>
<p>One such policy was a memorandum of understanding (MoU), drawn up in November 2016 between the Department of Health, NHS Digital and the Home Office, that allowed the Home Office to request access to non-clinical information of patients. <a href="https://digital.nhs.uk/">NHS Digital</a> provides national information, data and IT systems for health and care services. Under the agreement, the Home Office could request the name, date of birth, gender, last known address, and contact details of people using NHS primary care services who it suspected were in the UK without permission and who immigration officials had failed to find through other means. </p>
<p>Many medical organisations <a href="https://www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/news/doctors-of-the-worlds-statement-on-legal-victory-to-stopsharing-patient-information">oppose</a> the sharing of patient information because it is deemed dangerous to individuals and public health. </p>
<p>On November 12 2018, NHS Digital <a href="https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/news/press-releases-and-statements/legal-victory-protects-patients-pulling-doctors-out-government%E2%80%99s">confirmed</a> that the data–sharing agreement – which had already been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/09/government-to-stop-forcing-nhs-to-share-patients-data-with-home-office">suspended in May</a> – would be withdrawn. This followed legal proceedings by organisations who argued that it violated patients’ right to privacy under the Human Rights Act. They also argued that it didn’t pass the considerable public interest test required to breach the doctor-patient relationship, left migrants too scared to access healthcare services they were entitled to and discriminated against non-British patients. </p>
<p>A joint legal effort of Liberty, <a href="https://migrantsrights.org.uk/">Migrant Rights Network</a>, <a href="https://www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/">Doctors of the World</a> and the <a href="https://www.nat.org.uk/">National Aids Trust</a> demonstrated how crucial it is for diverse organisations to campaign together against the use of data collected for other purposes by UK border staff. </p>
<h2>Data-sharing in other forms</h2>
<p>But the Home Office hasn’t given up. A spokesperson told the Guardian that it would continue to work on a new MoU with NHS Digital to enable it to: “Make requests for non-medical information about those facing deportation action because they have committed serious crimes.” Nor has NHS Digital <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nhs-data-sharing-home-office_uk_5be97198e4b0e843889a1b5d?ncid=other_twitter_cooo9wqtham&utm_campaign=share_twitter%20%22%22">ruled out</a> signing another data-sharing agreement with the Home Office if, after a consultation, its assessment is that it would be in the public interest to share the data requested from them.</p>
<p>As well as legal challenges, the compliant environment is being challenged through Freedom of Information requests. One request <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/dec/15/pupil-data-shared-with-home-office-to-identify-illegal-migrants">uncovered that an agreement</a> had been in place since 2015 between the Home Office and Department for Education to share the details, including addresses, of up to 1,500 schoolchildren a month. The aim was specifically to “create a hostile environment” in schools in order to locate and deport individuals and families. After widespread protest and campaigning by organisations including <a href="https://www.schoolsabc.net/">Against Borders for Children</a>, in April 2018, the government <a href="https://schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-ends-divisive-pupil-nationality-data-collection/">agreed to end</a> the practice.</p>
<p>Other Freedom of Information requests have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/13/nhs-denied-treatment-for-migrants-who-cant-afford-upfront-charges?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">revealed the numbers of migrant</a> patients denied treatment because they cannot afford to pay upfront. Since October 2017, all NHS trusts in England must seek <a href="https://improvement.nhs.uk/resources/overseas-patient-upfront-tariff/">payment in advance</a> before they provide non-emergency treatment to failed asylum seekers and those who have overstayed their visa. Meanwhile, politicians are scapegoating migrants again <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/increase-to-immigration-health-surcharge-gives-nhs-extra-funding">by increasing</a> the Immigration Health Surcharge required of all non-EU citizens who require a visa to live in the UK, from £200 a year to £400 a year from December 2018. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246428/original/file-20181120-161644-105owc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246428/original/file-20181120-161644-105owc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246428/original/file-20181120-161644-105owc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246428/original/file-20181120-161644-105owc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246428/original/file-20181120-161644-105owc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246428/original/file-20181120-161644-105owc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246428/original/file-20181120-161644-105owc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Campaigners argue immigration checks and extra fees are preventing people seeking medical help.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/155825075?src=C6ITKzUrquz-ocU6YNErcw-1-98&size=medium_jpg">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Everyday borders</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://vimeo.com/126315982">research</a> on the impact of what my colleagues and I call “everyday bordering”, where people are turned into border guards, we heard that if migrants are pushed underground they end up in crisis mode. This can mean that their physical and mental health is threatened and the chances of them being involved in crime increase. </p>
<p>Health campaigners <a href="http://raceequalityfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/REF-Better-Health-443.pdf">argue</a> that extra charges for migrants – even the perception that people will be charged for free services such as tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment – prove ineffective for the NHS budget. This is because delays in diagnosis threaten the health of those with infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and increase the risk of others being exposed to and contracting them. A maternity advice service also <a href="https://www.maternityaction.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/WhatPriceSafeMotherhoodFINAL.pdf">found evidence</a> that NHS charging deters migrant women from accessing maternity care due to fears of being charged and of the Home Office being notified. </p>
<p>These demands of the compliant environment are of concern to all of those living in the UK – not just migrant communities and ethnic minorities. Our <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0038038517702599">research</a> in London and the south-east shows how the outsourcing of border controls to the public and private sectors creates wider hostility. It brings immigration status into multiple everyday encounters, where it would never have been before, and has drawn health workers and schools into administering the government’s damaging immigration regime.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107066/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Georgie Wemyss received funding from FP7 EUBORDERSCAPES Research project 2013-2016. </span></em></p>Civil society groups continue to fight against the creeping demands of the UK’s immigration system.Georgie Wemyss, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of East LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1061272018-11-12T11:51:09Z2018-11-12T11:51:09Z‘Hostile environment’ in Britain hasn’t put off irregular immigrants – but it’s increased their suffering<p>The British government’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-the-uk-governments-draconian-immigration-policy-explained-95460">“hostile environment” policy</a>, which aimed at making life so difficult for irregular immigrants in the UK that they would leave, has been widely criticised in recent months, particularly after members of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/windrush-generation-latest-to-be-stripped-of-their-rights-in-the-name-of-migration-control-95158">Windrush generation</a> were caught up in it. But our new research <a href="https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/DIEM-Irregular-Immigrants-and-Control-Policies-in-the-UK.pdf">has found little evidence</a> that internal immigration controls in the UK have brought down irregular migration. Instead, they have increased the suffering of migrants living on British soil. </p>
<p>Over the course of four years, we interviewed 175 irregular immigrants from Australia, Brazil, Pakistan, Turkey and Ukraine. By irregular immigrants we mean people who have no right, or who have revoked their right, to be in the UK and would be issued with a removal order if apprehended by the authorities. We also interviewed 29 immigration officers, staff from public services and voluntary sector organisations, as well as 18 employers.</p>
<p>Overall we found a mixed picture. About half of the irregular immigrants we interviewed didn’t worry about immigration controls or only worried at the beginning of their stay in the UK. One interviewee, a young woman from Ukraine, pointedly argued: “It is still better to be illegal in the UK than legal in my own country.” Several others made similar remarks. </p>
<p>But the other half of our respondents was rather anxious, and some had even developed psychosomatic stress symptoms such as sleeplessness. As a man from Ukraine told us: “Fear … you catch it from others like a virus.”</p>
<p>The much-criticised hostile environment policy, introduced by Theresa May in 2012 when she was home secretary, <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-politics-javid-windrush/new-home-secretary-javid-opposes-hostile-environment-approach-to-immigration-idUKKBN1I10VI">was rebranded</a> as the “compliant environment” in spring 2018 in the wake of the Windrush scandal. But many of the checks it requires – be that by landlords or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/12/ucl-row-email-immigration-check-fine-draconian-discriminatory">universities</a> – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/01/hostile-environment-immigrants-crept-into-schools-hospitals-homes-border-guards">remain in place</a>. </p>
<p>It’s notoriously <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43837834">difficult to collect data</a> on the number of irregular immigrants in any country. But they don’t seem to be leaving the UK in any significant numbers. Home Office figures indicate that arrests of irregular immigrants <a href="https://www.freemovement.org.uk/home-office-enforcement/">declined by 50%</a> between the first three months of 2014 and the second three months of 2018, even as budgets for enforcement were cut. Meanwhile, estimates suggest that the number of irregular immigrants has actually been slightly increasing, <a href="https://gmdac.iom.int/sites/default/files/presentations/irregular%20migration/Georges%20Lemaitre.pdf">at least until 2011</a>, after which estimates aren’t available. Another study even found that strict government controls on immigration and visas <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0818/070818-visa-restrictions">actually drive up irregular migration</a> as people turn to unauthorised channels to come to the UK. </p>
<h2>Evasion strategies</h2>
<p>Irregular immigrants develop various strategies to cope with the looming threat of detection. Some avoid certain industries and types of employers, such as kebab shops, because they felt these were specifically prone to raids. Others avoid locations and even whole cities such as London, or addresses where they had lived before which had been raided. </p>
<p>Instead, irregular immigrants are being pushed into other parts of the country, such as smaller towns. They are also finding work in private households, hidden from sight, such as renovation jobs, caring or cleaning and private tuition.</p>
<p>If they do have jobs in larger companies, they avoid morning shifts as they know that immigration raids are normally conducted around dawn. And they generally avoid any kind of crowd events. Some communities arrange WhatsApp groups and in some towns and neighbourhoods minicab drivers alert certain communities if immigration enforcement officers are in town.</p>
<p>Some of those we spoke to were less than impressed by immigration enforcement. As one Brazilian man put it: “The worst that can happen if they catch me is that they will send me back home, isn’t it?”</p>
<p>Of our 175 interviewees, only 29 encountered immigration enforcement during their stay in the UK. Of these 11 were detained, but only one was deported, and that person was back in the UK within a month and a half. And only one person we spoke to decided to leave the UK and go back to Pakistan because of unviable living conditions. </p>
<p>An ethnic pattern emerged from our interviews, with Pakistanis and Turks most likely to experience enforcement actions. It was also these communities who had higher levels of fear about encountering immigration officers. As one Australian woman put it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am pretty white. I get the impression that somebody that might be from the Middle East or sort of, that side of Asia, probably they get stopped more often. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Side effects</h2>
<p>Our findings suggest immigration enforcement has a limited affect on bringing down the number of irregular immigrants currently living in the UK. But the hostile environment also has a range of unintended side effects.</p>
<p>A new market has grown up for the documentation that can be used to circumvent immigration controls. About a quarter of our interviewees said they had used false documents. This in turn has created networks which did not exist in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when one of us conducted a <a href="https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/irregular-migration">similar study</a>.</p>
<p>All this means that the hostile environment is actually counterproductive: it has provided new opportunities for criminals, probably mostly people who are in the UK legally, to falsify documents.</p>
<p>Exploitation and suffering were also widespread among those we interviewed, though this was more prevalent in some communities such as Pakistani and Turkish communities, than in others. One Turkish woman told us that she slept in a small storage area for six months at her employers’ premises, adding: “It was horrible.” </p>
<p>Immigration enforcement within Britain is having an effect – but mostly not the ones officials intended. It doesn’t seem to reduce the number of irregular immigrants living in the UK but instead increases human suffering and crime. This raises some fundamental doubts about whether such policies are an appropriate measure for the UK to be using.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106127/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Franck Düvell receives funding from Economic and Social Research Council, grant no. ES/K005359/1</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iryna Lapshyna received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council.
</span></em></p>Britain’s system of internal immigration enforcement is not working.Franck Düvell, Research Affiliate at COMPAS, University of Oxford and Head of the Migration Department, German Centre for Integration and Migration Research Iryna Lapshyna, Lecturer at Ukrainian Catholic University and Research Associate at South East European Studies, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/987412018-07-06T11:23:19Z2018-07-06T11:23:19ZOfficials working within hostile government departments are not free from blame<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225493/original/file-20180629-117371-ados8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/law-concept-mallet-judge-justice-scale-659750191">Chodyra Mike/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The hostile practices of the UK’s current government are by no means a secret. It was recently revealed, for example, that immigration officers at the Home Office were <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cake-reward-ice-immigration-officers-arrest-most-illegal-immigrants-a8400256.html">offered a cake</a> for arresting the highest number of “illegal” immigrants. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), meanwhile, was caught in a scandal after it was revealed that, in the first three months of 2018, <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tories-told-get-grip-record-12744613">71% of tribunal hearings</a> found that assessments for Personal Independence Payments (PIP), where a “health care professional” judged their disability insufficient for state support, were wrongly decided.</p>
<p>Responsibility for decisions in this area is generally attributed solely to the government, or to the secretary of state responsible for the department in question. This is not a view with which I wholly disagree. But it is important that consideration is given to the role played by individuals working within these departments too. </p>
<p>These people are charged with making crucial decisions, yet often it is assumed that they are just “doing their job”, “following the rules”. These ideas are thought to absolve them of any responsibility in the decision making process. As one anonymous DWP healthcare professional, writing for the Guardian, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2016/nov/12/assess-disability-benefits-esa-fit-to-work-dwp">states</a>: “Most people I assess understand we are just there to do a job.” Is this right?</p>
<p>Hannah Arendt, the political philosopher, provided a way of understanding the everyday contributions individuals make to oppressive systems. Her concept of the “banality of evil” is a useful way of understanding how violence can be perpetuated through the mundane, day-to-day, work-related activities of ordinary people; those who are simply “doing their jobs”. </p>
<p>Arendt’s framework was conceived while <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1963/02/16/eichmann-in-jerusalem-i">reporting for the New Yorker</a> on the trial of the Nazi Adolf Eichmann, a key player in organising the Holocaust, who repeatedly claimed that he was simply obeying the law and following orders. Unlike most, Arendt viewed this as characteristic of the man’s mundane thoughtlessness, and was amazed by what she felt was the staggering mediocrity of someone responsible for so many deaths. The essence of her idea was that, under certain conditions of authority, individuals lose the ability to think, becoming willing participants in acts of great violence. </p>
<p>If we apply Arendt’s ideas to UK asylum and social security systems, we begin to see the power exercised by individuals, and the impact this can have. Take the role of those who carry out asylum interviews and PIP assessments. Are these individuals just following orders?</p>
<h2>Who decides</h2>
<p>My research focuses on the function of categories within asylum claims based on gender and sexual identity. These claims arise because individuals are persecuted in their country of origin on the basis of their sexual or gender nonconformity. This persecution can come either directly from the state, through means such as imprisonment, or from the state’s failure to protect sexual and gender minorities from the actions of others. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225153/original/file-20180627-112611-cjoxql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225153/original/file-20180627-112611-cjoxql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225153/original/file-20180627-112611-cjoxql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225153/original/file-20180627-112611-cjoxql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225153/original/file-20180627-112611-cjoxql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225153/original/file-20180627-112611-cjoxql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225153/original/file-20180627-112611-cjoxql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Are those working for the Home Office and DWP really ‘just doing a job’?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/4nitsirk/3777270261">Kristina D.C. Hoeppner/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A core issue arising in this context is credibility. The lack of objective evidence in such cases means claims are largely dependent on the claimant’s narrative. This gives the caseworker conducting the interview a great deal of discretion, allowing them to decide on the legitimacy of the claimant’s identity. Often, this discretion is exercised with reference to the caseworker’s own understanding of sexual or gender identity. </p>
<p>For example, the judge of one tribunal hearing <a href="https://tribunalsdecisions.service.gov.uk/utiac/pa-03564-2017">claimed that</a>: “The applicant lacked any understanding of what it means to be gay.” This comment suggests that there is a single way to understand being gay, which the judge was authorised to decide on. Yet there are countless definitions of what it means to be gay, varying widely across cultures.</p>
<p>The personal morals and experiences of those involved in making such decisions about credibility, then, have a real impact on cases. Nonetheless, credibility findings are rarely subject to proper scrutiny on appeal. This means that the caseworker exercises a lot of discretion in determining what aspects of the applicant’s claims are to be believed.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/home-office-routinely-disbelieves-people-even-those-claiming-asylum-from-persecution-94664">Home Office routinely disbelieves people – even those claiming asylum from persecution</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The process for assessing the eligibility of disabled people for PIP claims raises similar issues. I recently attended one such assessment as a “companion”, and found major inconsistencies between the events in the room and the assessor’s report. Information provided by the claimant was dismissed or ignored. At one point, he even burst into tears, describing the affects his disabilities have on his daily life, yet the assessor’s gaze remained fixed on the computer screen. No note of this incident was recorded in her report and his claim was denied. </p>
<h2>Is this evil?</h2>
<p>Both processes described above involve levels of discretion on the part of the individual. If the cultures promoted by both the Home Office and DWP are both a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/26/hostile-environment-britain-disabled-people-windrush-benefits">hostile environment</a>”, this is because people have internalised such cultures. While both are loosely governed by legal principles, precedents, and legislation, they allow individuals a wide margin of interpretation.</p>
<p>Despite this, both environments are constructed in a way that allows individuals to distance themselves from the results of their decisions, leaving them able to claim that they were simply “following the rules”, or that their decision was made by another authority or organisation.</p>
<p>We need to recognise the role of the individual within such processes. Contrary to common understandings, their decisions play a dramatic role in creating the conditions which govern these processes. It is telling that the new approaches to immigration and social security have been as much about changing workplace cultures within departments, or the contractors who work for them, as they have about changing legislation. </p>
<p>Arendt warned us about the “ordinariness” of oppressive structures which absolve individuals of responsibility. It is now crucial that we disavow the idea that forming a part of these processes is “a job like any other”. Those occupying these positions of influence are gatekeepers, often closing doors to the very means of subsistence or survival for those who are seeking protection or support. The role of individuals is key to such processes; they cannot hide behind the excuse of simply “following the rules”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98741/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Powell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It is important that consideration is given to the role played by individuals working within departments, not just the government.Alex Powell, PhD Researcher, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/993612018-07-06T09:20:58Z2018-07-06T09:20:58ZThai cave boys: the psychology of surviving underground<p>When 12 young footballers and their coach entered the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Thailand, it was supposed to be a fun outing after football practice. But when a torrent of flood water rushed in after heavy rain, the group became trapped on a small rock shelf deep inside the cave’s vast network of tunnels. </p>
<p>It was nine days before two British divers, John Volanthen and Richard Stanton, located the group – mercifully alive and apparently in good physical and mental health. But how do people cope with such life-threatening events? And why is it important to focus on psychological, as well as physiological impact?</p>
<p>When the boys first became aware that they were facing a life-threatening situation they would have experienced a number of physiological reactions. Fight or flight responses, such as an increase in heart rate, would have kicked in immediately, designed to help us stay alive. </p>
<p>But despite their physiological benefits, these neurochemical changes can affect our brain, and <a href="http://paulkirtley.co.uk/2014/survival-psychology-with-dr-sarita-robinson/">impair our mental functioning</a>. During the initial stages of an emergency situation our brains may perform poorly, potentially resulting in <a href="https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-24/edition-1/survival-%E2%80%93-mind-and-brain">poor decision-making and memory failures</a>. Fortunately, when the flood waters came crashing in, the Thai footballers and coach appear to have remained level headed. They were able to control feelings of panic, and made the rational decision to find a safe place and wait.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226324/original/file-20180705-122280-8sapvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226324/original/file-20180705-122280-8sapvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226324/original/file-20180705-122280-8sapvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226324/original/file-20180705-122280-8sapvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226324/original/file-20180705-122280-8sapvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226324/original/file-20180705-122280-8sapvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226324/original/file-20180705-122280-8sapvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The entrance to Tham Luang cave in happier times.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/thailand-cave-tham-luang-doi-nang-1121198480?src=XlkiEEw5UJPWdyJDeRt6JQ-1-5">via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the immediate danger from the flood waters receded, more long-term survival needs will have come into focus. Everyone knows that the human body has basic physical requirement: an adequate supply of food, water and warmth. What people often forget is that brain function is also sensitive to environmental factors. When exposed to the elements, dehydrated, hungry, or suffering from sleep deprivation, the human brain cannot function within its normal operating parameters. </p>
<p>In these conditions people can make poor decisions which can put them at risk. The Thai footballers seem to have managed to keep themselves hydrated, and although they were clearly hungry <a href="https://youtu.be/SV8j7WRdFGg">when they were found</a>, they appeared cognitively intact, looking alert and asking appropriate questions. Again, this shows that the boys and their coach managed to stay both physically and psychologically healthy during the nine long days they spent waiting in the dark. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SV8j7WRdFGg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In a survival situation, your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Maintaining a positive attitude is crucial: people who remain optimistic are more likely to think that adverse events are controllable, and so are more likely to <a href="http://positivepsychology.org.uk/optimism-and-hope/">undertake positive behaviours to try and survive</a>. Pessimistic thinking increases feelings of anxiety and helplessness, which can stop people from trying to proactively improve their situation.</p>
<p>In extreme cases, people can give up mentally, withdraw into themselves, and even die. This is known <a href="https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-24/edition-1/survival-psychology-wont-live">as psychogenic death</a>, essentially giving up. From the early footage, the footballers seem to have managed to stay positive while awaiting rescue. They are seen laughing and joking with the divers – a very promising sign.</p>
<p>Another way to maintain mental strength is to draw on any social support available in the situation. This can be a friend or family member: anyone you feel you can count on in a time of need. It is thought that this kind of support can act as a buffer, and when we face danger <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/social-support">in good company</a> we perceive the situation to be less threatening than we would if we were alone. The fact that the Thai footballers have been able to draw on each other through their ordeal will have been a big boost to their mental health. </p>
<p>Currently the footballers appear in good spirits, so the next challenge is to remove them safely from the cave. Two main options have been put forward. First, teaching them to swim and use diving equipment, so they can leave the cave the same way their rescuers came in. Or option two, to leave the boys in the cave for the duration of the rainy season, which could last <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-44720685/thailand-cave-rescue-what-are-the-options">four to five months</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226310/original/file-20180705-122280-19bn3ui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226310/original/file-20180705-122280-19bn3ui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226310/original/file-20180705-122280-19bn3ui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226310/original/file-20180705-122280-19bn3ui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226310/original/file-20180705-122280-19bn3ui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226310/original/file-20180705-122280-19bn3ui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226310/original/file-20180705-122280-19bn3ui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cave diving is a complex and dangerous activity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/technical-scuba-diver-exploring-underwater-cenote-1111866893?src=b1RrCxVhkRtTUxYR5uCmDQ-1-27">via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is certainly possible, and we know that people frequently live, and adapt well in extreme environments. Sailors on submarines or yachts can spend long periods living in cramped conditions, as long as their basic needs are met and they adjust psychologically to their living conditions. In fact, in 2010 <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/04/world/chilean-miners-five-years-later/index.html">a group of 33 Chilean miners survived 69 days</a> before they were rescued.</p>
<p>Once, hopefully, the 12 boys and their coach are rescued they will need to re-adapt to their everyday lives, and some are worried that they might suffer long-term mental health problems as a result of their experience. To this day some of the Chilean miners report <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/04/world/chilean-miners-five-years-later/index.html">struggling to hold down jobs</a> and some experience harrowing flashbacks to their time spent underground.</p>
<p>Hopefully the boys won’t be trapped for nearly so long. And, while they may experience short-term adverse effects, it’s likely that with the support of their friends and family, they will recover. In some cases people have even reported experiencing positive outcomes <a href="https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-25/edition-11/what-doesnt-kill-us">after being exposed</a> to traumatic events. Nevertheless they should be closely monitored after their ordeal, and if after a period of watchful waiting psychologists are still concerned, then psychological support can be offered.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99361/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarita Robinson works for The University of Central Lancashire. Sarita is a Director of Nick Robinson Computing Ltd. </span></em></p>The looming prospect of a long stay in the cave has increased fears for the boys’ mental health.Sarita Robinson, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Central LancashireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/989082018-06-29T10:52:49Z2018-06-29T10:52:49ZBefore he was murdered, here is what a disabled asylum seeker had to say about Britain’s ‘hostile environment’<p>Kamil Ahmad, a disabled man, fled his home in Iraqi Kurdistan after being tortured and imprisoned. He arrived in Bristol, England, in 2012 hoping to find peace and safety, but his application for asylum was refused. On July 7, 2016, Kamil <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/18/murdered-asylum-seeker-kamil-ahmad-failed-britain">was murdered</a>. This was almost exactly three years after the murder of another disabled refugee from Iran, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global/2013/nov/28/bijan-ebrahimi-murdered-victim-impact-statement">Bijan Ebrahimi</a>, also in Bristol. </p>
<p>Official enquiries have taken place into the two murders, which were both found to be racially motivated. The <a href="https://bristolsafeguarding.org/adults/safeguarding-adult-reviews/bristol-sars/kamil-ahmad-and-mr-x-june-2018/">serious case review</a> into Kamil’s murder, published in June 2018, found that he was failed by many agencies and that the fatal assault on him “could have been avoided”. In light of his experience, it concluded: “It is timely for agencies in Bristol to consider whether an unconscious bias affects how they respond to the designation ‘refused’ (or ‘failed’) asylum seeker.”</p>
<p>Bijan had a more secure immigration situation than Kamil, as he had been granted refugee status. However, an enquiry found evidence of <a href="https://www.bristol.gov.uk/documents/20182/35136/Multi-agency+learning+review+following+the+murder+of+Bijan+Ebrahimi">institutional racism</a> which led to police assumptions that Bijan was to blame for the assaults he reported, and a failure to deal adequately with his complaints. </p>
<p>The precarious existence of asylum seekers, particularly those who are disabled and those whose cases have been refused, cannot simply be attributed to individual acts of hostility or to the oversight of individual agencies. Rather, it’s the result of deliberate government policy. The hostile environment for immigration is designed to be hostile – and this deliberate hostility is being rapidly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/26/hostile-environment-britain-disabled-people-windrush-benefits">extended</a> to wider sections of the population.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-the-uk-governments-draconian-immigration-policy-explained-95460">Hostile environment: the UK government's draconian immigration policy explained</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In an <a href="https://youtu.be/uxadnQeHWnk">interview</a> I carried out with Kamil in 2012 he spoke of his despair at the scale of injustice he was experiencing in Britain. He drew parallels between his life as a disabled refused asylum seeker in Britain and his time in Abu Ghuraib prison in Iraq. He was stuck, unable to return to the place he had fled, but with his basic rights denied in Britain.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uxadnQeHWnk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>A disabling system</h2>
<p>Many people involved in the asylum sector describe it as disabling. Some arrive in the UK as disabled people, but others become disabled after they reach the UK. Several asylum seekers who I’ve interviewed as part of my research describe the system as psychological torture. And if a person is tortured then symptoms are inevitable. </p>
<p>The despair one person who I interviewed felt led him to jump off a bridge. This caused long-term physical injury alongside the ongoing mental distress. Another person developed serious back problems after being made destitute and having to sleep on park benches. </p>
<p>The denial of rights to asylum seekers, including disabled asylum seekers, in Britain has been increasing, under governments of all political colours. Since the 1951, the <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/uk/1951-refugee-convention.html">Convention on the Status of Refugees</a> which protected the rights of refugees internationally, there have been 16 immigration acts in Britain, each reducing the rights of migrants further. These laws combine with what appears to be wider acceptance that some people deserve human rights but others do not. If our commitment to universal human rights is broken, it’s an easy step for rights to be removed from ever more people.</p>
<h2>Rights gradually removed</h2>
<p>The denial of rights has been gradually extended from one group to another. The 1999 <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/33/part/VI">Immigration and Asylum Act</a> removed the right for asylum seekers to receive mainstream benefits, including disability benefits. The support available to asylum seekers was set at below income support – the minimum deemed necessary for citizens – with no consideration of the costs associated with being disabled. People also lost the right to choose where to live and can be dispersed to areas of cheap housing, away from family, friends and support. </p>
<p>More than a decade later, the 2012 <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/5/contents/enacted">Welfare Reform Act</a> drastically cut support available to all disabled citizens. It introduced the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jan/27/the-bedroom-tax-explained">bedroom tax”</a>, which reduced housing benefit for people deemed to have an “extra” bedroom and forced some to move to to cheaper housing. This had disproportionate impact on those disabled people who require space for a carer or family member. </p>
<p>Together with wider cuts to services and support, this led a <a href="http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7367">UN investigation</a> to report “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/31/un-panel-criticises-uk-failure-to-uphold-disabled-peoples-rights">grave and systematic</a> violations of the rights” of disabled people.</p>
<p>There have been many protests about the wider treatment of disabled people. Yet even now, similarities with policies imposed on disabled asylum seekers more than a decade earlier are rarely mentioned. It’s as if different standards are acceptable for asylum seekers compared with the broader citizenry.</p>
<p>I suggest that the removal of rights from disabled citizens is the price we are paying for our collective lack of resistance when the rights of asylum seekers were removed. If, back in 1999, we’d had a movement strong enough to resist the removal of rights from disabled asylum seekers, then perhaps similar policies would not have been imposed on disabled citizens more than a decade later. </p>
<p>Since these tragic events took place, there has been growing determination to address the injustice which Kamil and Bijan faced. An <a href="http://www.disabilitymurals.org.uk/kamil_ahmad_event.php">initiative</a> to build a broader movement of solidarity in their honour has had the support of 18 different organisations, including disabled peoples groups, the asylum sector, trade unions, mosques and the University of Bath.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98908/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Yeo receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>Two murders of a disabled asylum seeker and a disabled refugee in Bristol showed how precarious life has become for people on the margins.Rebecca Yeo, PhD Candidate, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/958132018-05-26T06:38:15Z2018-05-26T06:38:15ZNew poll shows British people have become more positive about immigration<p>Michael Gove, the British environment secretary, sparked a heated debate when <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43821484">he said recently</a>: “Britain has the most liberal attitude towards migration of any European country. And that followed the Brexit vote.”</p>
<p>His implication that the Brexit vote was a force for a more positive view of immigration in Britain has been <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/michael-gove-brexit-uk-immigration-union-customs-union-eu-a8361731.html">vigorously challenged</a> by some.</p>
<p>And you can see why it might grate: analysis by King’s College London shows that media coverage of immigration tripled in the campaign, and was “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/10/brexit-eu-referendum-campaign-media-coverage-immigration">overwhelmingly negative”</a>.</p>
<p>But Gove is right to say that people in Britain are now more positive about immigration, as shown by new <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/attitudes-towards-immigration-after-windrush">polling released</a> by Ipsos MORI, tracking attitudes towards immigration after the recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/windrush-generation-latest-to-be-stripped-of-their-rights-in-the-name-of-migration-control-95158">Windrush scandal</a>. </p>
<p>Gove cited an <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en/global-views-immigration-and-refugee-crisis">Ipsos survey</a> from the end of 2017, which does indeed show that from the ten European countries included, Britain is most likely to think immigration has had a positive effect on the country.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220522/original/file-20180526-90281-d74jpw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220522/original/file-20180526-90281-d74jpw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220522/original/file-20180526-90281-d74jpw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220522/original/file-20180526-90281-d74jpw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220522/original/file-20180526-90281-d74jpw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220522/original/file-20180526-90281-d74jpw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220522/original/file-20180526-90281-d74jpw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220522/original/file-20180526-90281-d74jpw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What people across Europe think about immigration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ipsos MORI</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A more recent European Commission <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/index.cfm/survey/getsurveydetail/instruments/special/surveyky/2169">survey</a> across all 28 EU countries shows that, while the UK is not quite top, it is the third most likely to say that immigration is an opportunity rather than a problem, behind only Sweden and Ireland.</p>
<p>And this is a shift that can’t be explained purely by the weight of negative media coverage of immigration dying down after the referendum. I’ve been reviewing immigration attitudes for nearly 20 years, and I’m really not used to seeing Britain at the top of any league table of immigration positivity: this is something new. </p>
<p>As the chart below shows, positive attitudes have doubled in Britain since 2011, while they’ve flatlined at a low level in most other countries, or fallen in the case of Sweden.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220491/original/file-20180525-51127-cjdbp0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220491/original/file-20180525-51127-cjdbp0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220491/original/file-20180525-51127-cjdbp0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220491/original/file-20180525-51127-cjdbp0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220491/original/file-20180525-51127-cjdbp0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220491/original/file-20180525-51127-cjdbp0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220491/original/file-20180525-51127-cjdbp0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220491/original/file-20180525-51127-cjdbp0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An upward trend for Great Britain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ipsos MORI</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And as our <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/attitudes-towards-immigration-after-windrush">new survey</a> published by Ipsos MORI shows, this trend remains stable. The switch from a negative balance of opinion to a positive one started before the 2016 referendum on EU membership, in the middle of 2015 – but it did gain pace after. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220752/original/file-20180529-80640-13h4iho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220752/original/file-20180529-80640-13h4iho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220752/original/file-20180529-80640-13h4iho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220752/original/file-20180529-80640-13h4iho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220752/original/file-20180529-80640-13h4iho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220752/original/file-20180529-80640-13h4iho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220752/original/file-20180529-80640-13h4iho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220752/original/file-20180529-80640-13h4iho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Brexit vote has changed little.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ipsos MORI</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reassurance and regret</h2>
<p>There are two broad explanations for why this is happening – that the change is being driven by “reassurance”, or “regret”. </p>
<p>The first is the idea that people feel they can now say that immigration has positive aspects, because numbers are coming down, or they believe numbers will be lower in the future, as a result of Brexit. </p>
<p>Regret, on the other hand, could be driven by a realisation of what we’re losing from lower immigration: as numbers fall and warnings of skills shortages and economic impacts increase, the extent to which the country benefits from immigration becomes more obvious. </p>
<p>Clearly these are simplifications – there are other explanations and these are not mutually exclusive views. But in our latest survey, we tried to assess the balance between these two explanations for the first time, by simply asking people why they are more positive. </p>
<p>And as the chart below shows, there is an almost perfect balance between the two explanations: around four in ten say they’re more aware of the contribution that immigrants make, and the same proportion say they’re reassured numbers are falling or will fall. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220493/original/file-20180525-51130-2pa0uq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220493/original/file-20180525-51130-2pa0uq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220493/original/file-20180525-51130-2pa0uq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220493/original/file-20180525-51130-2pa0uq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220493/original/file-20180525-51130-2pa0uq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220493/original/file-20180525-51130-2pa0uq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220493/original/file-20180525-51130-2pa0uq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220493/original/file-20180525-51130-2pa0uq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Why have British people become more positive about immigration?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ipsos MORI</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An emotive debate</h2>
<p>As with so much about immigration attitudes, there is no one clear answer or view, and therefore no clear indication for future policy and political direction. The very real trends of increased positivity actually give the government little clue as to whether they should loosen their drive to control numbers, or stick to their guns on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-the-uk-governments-draconian-immigration-policy-explained-95460">“hostile environment” immigration policy</a> that has come in for so much criticism in recent months.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-immigration-policy-has-made-britain-a-precarious-place-to-call-home-95546">'Hostile environment' immigration policy has made Britain a precarious place to call home</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Immigration is well recognised as a polarising issue, and one of <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/shifting-ground-attitudes-towards-immigration-and-brexit">the key topics</a> in a referendum vote that split the country down the middle.</p>
<p>But what’s more often missed is that our views are also full of nuance and contradiction. There are not just two immovable and monolithic pro- and anti-immigration blocs, as shown by our <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/IpsosMORI/shifting-ground-changing-attitudes-to-immigration">previous research</a>, and another of our <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/half-public-favour-relaxing-visa-cap-non-eu-skilled-workers">just released polls</a> for the Evening Standard. For example, the majority of the public would like to see the government’s cap on the number of doctors coming to the UK from outside the EU lifted entirely or increased – but the majority support the cap, or even greater restrictions, on computer scientists.</p>
<p>One thing seems clear – British people’s more positive outlook seems to be little to do with the Brexit debate leading people to be better informed on immigration facts, at least on key aspects like the scale of immigration. <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/attitudes-towards-immigration-after-windrush">When we asked</a> what percentage of the population immigrants make up, which we’ve done regularly over many years, the average guess was 28%, compared with a reality of around 13%: we are just as wrong as we’ve always been. </p>
<p>Of course, this is because our emotions colour our views of scale as much as the other way round. The immigration debate remains an emotive one, caught up in our identity, culture and values more than cold calculations.</p>
<p>But all these challenges don’t mean that attitudes to immigration should be ignored in setting immigration policy. There is a case that Brexit was partly a result of ignoring immigration concerns, rather than either acting to reassure people, or challenging their views.</p>
<p>With a white paper on the post-Brexit immigration system <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/theresa-may-immigration-brexit-sajid-javid-intervenes-to-speed-up-new-uk-immigration-plan/">now expected by July</a>, the risk for the government comes not from listening to apparently fickle and contradictory public opinion, it comes from mishearing or caricaturing it – again.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95813/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bobby Duffy is the Chairman of the Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute. He receives funding from Unbound Philanthropy. </span></em></p>A new poll suggests there has been a shift in positive opinion towards immigration, which started in 2015.Bobby Duffy, Visiting Senior Research Fellow, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/964452018-05-16T09:03:48Z2018-05-16T09:03:48ZParagraph 322(5): what the Home Office uses to refuse highly skilled migrants leave to remain in Britain<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218980/original/file-20180515-122928-1w0z7k0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A protest outside the Home Office in early May against the immigration regime. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wdm/42061327572/sizes/l">Global Justice Now/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Amid the many recent criticisms of the British Home Office have come <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/06/at-least-1000-highly-skilled-migrants-wrongly-face-deportation-experts-reveal">reports</a> that “at least 1,000 highly skilled migrants” have been refused indefinite leave to remain in the UK. They face removal from the country on the basis of “bad character” under paragraph 322(5) of the Immigration Rules. </p>
<p>The 1971 Immigration Act created a power to make rules which are intended to be a complete statement of who is eligible for leave to enter or remain in the UK and on what grounds. But those who meet the requirements for a particular category can still be refused on one or more of the “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-part-9-grounds-for-refusal">general grounds for refusal</a>” contained in paragraphs 320, regarding entry, and 322 regarding remaining.</p>
<p>Paragraph 322(5) says that applications for leave to remain “should normally be refused” if it is “undesirable” to let them remain because of “conduct … character or associations or the fact that he represents a threat to national security”. It also covers those with previous convictions who are not facing deportation as foreign national criminals. The core of these policies is to exclude people whose presence is “not conducive to the public good”.</p>
<h2>Used for tax errors</h2>
<p>On the face of it, the reference to convictions and threats to national security imply that there is a fairly high threshold for refusal. But the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/HighlySkilledUK/">Highly Skilled Migrants support group</a> reports that the Home Office is refusing large numbers of applications under paragraph 322, especially subsection (5), over minor and non-criminal tax issues. They also <a href="https://www.ein.org.uk/blog/highly-skilled-migrants-protest-against-injustice-home-office">complain of inconsistency</a>, arguing that “people with the same immigration history are successful with one application and unsuccessful with another”. It leaves them with no right to work and searching for the money for legal bills. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"993773967872811008"}"></div></p>
<p>The most common basis for refusal appears to be that the person rectified a tax return error – which is not an offence – or that there was a difference between the income declared on their tax return and that on their application to remain. This, of course, is <a href="https://www.freemovement.org.uk/doctors-deported-visas-tier-1-general-dr-syed-kazmi-birmingham/">generally for legitimate reasons</a>: income in the tax year is not necessarily the same as income in any other 12-month period. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/general-grounds-for-refusal-considering-leave-to-remain">Guidance</a> for Home Office decision-makers advises that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The main types of cases you need to consider for refusal under paragraph 322(5) or referral to other teams are those that involve criminality, a threat to national security, war crimes or travel bans. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is nothing in the guidance to indicate that “character” is intended to cover making a mistake on a tax return. </p>
<p>The best evidence available on the intentions behind this rule is set out in a 2016 <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwio4rfBt4fbAhXIWBQKHVkzATEQFggnMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fresearchbriefings.files.parliament.uk%2Fdocuments%2FSN07035%2FSN07035.pdf&usg=AOvVaw02vIhL3e5EYnq6vZU0kEqe">Parliamentary briefing (PDF)</a> by researcher Melanie Gower on powers to exclude or refuse leave to foreign nationals. <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm140402/halltext/140402h0002.htm#14040266000074">Debates</a> indicate that the powers were very much aimed at prevention of terrorism, hate speech and criminality – including suspected criminality such as gang membership, for which it might be difficult to secure individual convictions. </p>
<h2>A target culture</h2>
<p>The use of these powers in an apparently arbitrary way and against people they were not designed to target suggests this is part of the wider <a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-the-uk-governments-draconian-immigration-policy-explained-95460">“hostile environment”</a> which was originally declared for “illegal immigration”. This includes people being asked to prove their immigration status before they can access rental accommodation, health services, bank services, marriage and so on – policies which compel landlords, registrars and receptionists to act as immigration officials. </p>
<p>But it also includes the determined effort to reduce immigration even when immigration is obviously in the UK’s interests, particularly to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/23/doctors-blocked-by-home-office-from-taking-up-vital-nhs-jobs">employers such as the NHS</a>. Meanwhile, legal aid for the majority of these cases has been abolished – a real problem for those losing jobs as a result of bad decisions.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-immigration-policy-has-made-britain-a-precarious-place-to-call-home-95546">'Hostile environment' immigration policy has made Britain a precarious place to call home</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Some of this is deliberate policy. But some of it is chaos: the Home Office employs too few staff and imposes unmanageable work targets on them with too little training. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-43555766">Whistleblowers</a> in <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/visa-application-service-delays-profit-guardian-home-office-denied-a8128616.html">recent months</a> have described making the easiest and quickest decision under threat of losing their jobs if they fail to meet targets. </p>
<p>The Home Office disputes this, insisting that training, support, workloads and internal quality assurance are adequate. But reports by the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/independent-chief-inspector-of-borders-and-immigration">Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration</a> suggest otherwise, at least in overseas entry clearance posts, where staff report being given only five minutes to review some applications. </p>
<p>And it appears the immigration minister, Caroline Nokes, knew about some of the problems faced by highly-skilled migrants in February, but she <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/15/home-office-skilled-migrants-caroline-nokes-immigration?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">chose not to reveal this</a> to the Home Affairs Select Committee in May. </p>
<p>It seems the hostile environment also extends to the internal workings of the Home Office and it’s that – rather than the presence of highly skilled migrants – which is not conducive to the public good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Wilding is a barrister at Garden Court Chambers, specialising in immigration and asylum law. </span></em></p>The UK’s general grounds for refusal of highly skilled migrants – explained.Jo Wilding, PhD candidate, University of BrightonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/958172018-05-02T08:53:59Z2018-05-02T08:53:59ZSix ways Sajid Javid can make British migration policy more humane<p>Britain’s increasingly brutal regime of “migration control” has come to a head. After almost two years as home secretary, <a href="https://www.amberrudd.co.uk">Amber Rudd</a> resigned on April 29, apologising for misleading <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/apr/29/amber-rudd-resigns-as-home-secretary-after-windrush-scandal">parliament</a> of deportation targets, amid <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/petitions-committee/news-parliament-2017/windrush-amnesty-debate-17-19/">public revulsion</a> at the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/04/uk-windrush-generation-scandal-180418074648878.html">treatment</a> of British people who had come from the Caribbean half a century ago. The prime minister, who <a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-the-uk-governments-draconian-immigration-policy-explained-95460">introduced many of those policies</a>, remains in post. </p>
<p>In distancing himself from Rudd, her replacement Sajid Javid <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sajid-javid-theresa-may-new-home-secretary-immigration-rhetoric-hostile-not-british-a8330151.html">expressed an intention</a> to focus on making Britain’s immigration system not “hostile” but “compliant”. To make it more humane too, here are six things he should think about.</p>
<h2>1. Don’t use migration control as an excuse</h2>
<p>When migration control stops being about crossing external territorial borders and turns instead to who gets access to particular services, people can be <a href="https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2018/02/migration-policy">displaced without moving</a>. And that’s dangerous. It resulted in unknown numbers of the “Windrush generation”, who were living normal lives for decades, suddenly being threatened with exclusion from British society unless they could prove otherwise. The label “migration control” must not be used to justify activities that are not about controlling migration.</p>
<p>And the proper reach of “migration control” should be considered when negotiating the future of citizens of other EU countries currently living in the UK, and UK citizens elsewhere in the EU. Such individuals may have migrated a while ago, but now they are members of their communities. Making sudden changes to what access they have to services within those communities would not be about migration control. It would be about displacement.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sajid-javid-the-son-of-a-pakistani-bus-driver-who-became-britains-home-secretary-95884">Sajid Javid: the son of a Pakistani bus driver who became Britain's home secretary</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Human rights must be for everyone</h2>
<p>In the UK today, many human rights have become dependent upon documentation and status and this has mostly become socially acceptable. In the <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G17/192/15/PDF/G1719215.pdf?OpenElement">latest review</a> of the UK by the UN Human Rights Council, many concerns were raised about the effects of migration control. </p>
<p>Policies are putting human rights out of reach for some in the UK. For example, some visas make employees <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/oct/19/absolutely-unacceptable-uk-accused-of-failing-to-protect-domestic-workers">dependent</a> upon employers and unable to complain about abuse. <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/doctors-home-office-immigration-enforcement-border-guards-nhs-doctors-of-the-world-a7693461.html">Healthcare providers</a> are being asked to police access. Irregular immigrants are forbidden from both work and welfare, and some may even be prevented from accessing <a href="https://theconversation.com/homeless-people-could-avoid-life-saving-services-if-theres-a-risk-of-deportation-92907">homelessness support</a>, leaving no legal access to food and shelter. </p>
<p>These are all framed as “migration control”, but their focus is on controlling access to human rights, not controlling migration. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217024/original/file-20180501-135803-1ekutim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217024/original/file-20180501-135803-1ekutim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217024/original/file-20180501-135803-1ekutim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217024/original/file-20180501-135803-1ekutim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217024/original/file-20180501-135803-1ekutim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217024/original/file-20180501-135803-1ekutim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217024/original/file-20180501-135803-1ekutim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Doctors have been asked to act as de facto border guards.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTUyNTE5ODg0OCwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfNDEzMjQyNzMyIiwiayI6InBob3RvLzQxMzI0MjczMi9tZWRpdW0uanBnIiwibSI6MSwiZCI6InNodXR0ZXJzdG9jay1tZWRpYSJ9LCJwcGpHZnhPYXY3ZEoxWWtOKytSV2lYRktJUG8iXQ%2Fshutterstock_413242732.jpg&pi=33421636&m=413242732&src=-lghKAvtNOAd5y8XLvSPmw-1-45">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Make British citizenship a reliable and equal status</h2>
<p>Naturalised British citizenship can currently be revoked <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2014-03-17/my-british-citizenship-was-everything-to-me-now-i-am-nobody-a-former-british-citizen-speaks-out">while a person is overseas</a> if there is a concern that their presence is “not conducive to the public good”. A 2015 Supreme Court <a href="https://www.supremecourt.uk/decided-cases/docs/UKSC_2013_0150_Judgment.pdf">ruling</a> confirmed that this would be acceptable under British law even if it leaves someone with no citizenship at all. Without citizenship, a person may be <a href="https://rli.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2017/09/11/statelessness-and-the-global-compact-for-migration/">unable</a> to work, travel, or marry anywhere on Earth.</p>
<p>And yet, Britain is party to the <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/wp-content/uploads/1961-Convention-on-the-reduction-of-Statelessness_ENG.pdf">1961 Statelessness Convention</a> which forbids the creation of statelessness. This policy also creates further inequality among British citizens – since only naturalised citizens are at risk – and undermines Britain’s ability to criticise other countries that illegally strip their citizens of citizenship.</p>
<h2>4. Assumptions of exclusion must be questioned</h2>
<p>As the hostile environment has become entrenched, wider circles of people have been affected by the assumption of exclusion and by the need to prove eligibility for membership of British society. Recent scandals have focused on redressing this in cases involving <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-43782463">doctors</a>, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/durham-university-academics-deportation-home-office-mexico-petition-a8263901.html">academics</a> or those who arrived on the Windrush. But we should not ignore the countless others denied rights in the UK in the name of migration control, whose cause has created less outrage.</p>
<p>For example, it might be hardest to empathise with foreign nationals convicted of crimes. But for over a decade, foreign nationals who have served UK custodial sentences have been at increasing risk of arbitrary indefinite detention, even deportation – no matter how long they have been in the UK. In 2009 one individual <a href="http://detentionaction.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Detained-Lives-report.pdf">described</a> leaving a prison, believing they were going to be freed and without explanation arriving at a detention centre. </p>
<p>Since then, increasing categories of people have been subject to administrative detention, including irregular migrants, <a href="http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/immigration-detention-in-the-uk/">asylum seekers (the largest group currently in detention)</a>, <a href="https://www.statelessness.eu/resources/protecting-stateless-persons-arbitrary-detention-united-kingdom">stateless persons</a>, <a href="https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2018/01/not-enough">children</a> and <a href="https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2018/01/truth-about">people who arrived in the UK as children</a> and it even played a role in the <a href="https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/22/caribbean-diplomats-ask-uk-for-more-compassion-for-citizens">Windrush scandal</a>. It’s now time for arbitrary immigration detention to stop, along with the assumption that people can be excluded from British society unless they can prove otherwise.</p>
<h2>5. Hold open discussions about demographic change</h2>
<p>There are many reasons why the distribution of people in the UK is always changing. One is migration. This has implications. In areas where there are more working-aged people, there may be more people available to work but also more demand for jobs. In areas where there are more elderly people, there may be a need for more social support, including home care and hospital beds. Where there are more children, schools need increased funding. </p>
<p>Where policy has not responded to the changing make up of the population and politicians have not listened to local concerns, <a href="https://theconversation.com/history-offers-britain-an-important-lesson-on-shutting-down-immigration-65840">there has been conflict</a>. There needs to be open public discussion about the changing needs of communities and a fair distribution of resources. </p>
<h2>6. Make Britain a global leader on migration</h2>
<p>Javid becomes UK home secretary at a crucial juncture for global policy around migration. The UK is not the only country that has been cultivating a hostile environment and using the label of “migration control” to sanction an increasingly broad range of measures – look for example at <a href="https://theconversation.com/mould-levels-seen-at-nauru-detention-centre-are-enough-to-cause-serious-health-problems-92429">Australia</a> and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/03/donald-trump-malcolm-turnbull-refugees-australia-phone-call">US</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-rights-must-trump-politics-if-new-global-plans-on-refugees-and-migrants-are-to-make-a-difference-88597">Why rights must trump politics if new global plans on refugees and migrants are to make a difference</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>UN member states are currently negotiating a <a href="https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/migration-compact">global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration</a>, to be launched at a <a href="https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/intergovernmental-conference-2018">UN intergovernmental conference</a> at the end of 2018. The <a href="https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/sites/default/files/180205_gcm_zero_draft_final.pdfhttps://refugeesmigrants.un.org/sites/default/files/180205_gcm_zero_draft_final.pdf">initial drafts</a> of this compact set out to reframe migration policy away from control. The UK has the opportunity to demonstrate how this reframing can occur in practice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95817/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tendayi Bloom does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Where to start dismantling the UK’s hostile environment policy on immigration.Tendayi Bloom, Lecturer in Politics and International Studies, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/946642018-05-01T12:01:01Z2018-05-01T12:01:01ZHome Office routinely disbelieves people – even those claiming asylum from persecution<p>The unfolding <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/windrush-52562">Windrush scandal</a>, in which people who were invited to Britain from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1971 and given permanent leave to remain but have since found their credibility questioned, has shed light on the wider policies of the UK Home Office and the onus it places on proof and belief.</p>
<p>Despite the Home Office <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/17/home-office-destroyed-windrush-landing-cards-says-ex-staffer">destruction</a> in 2010 of evidence of when they arrived, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/windrush-generation-the-history-of-unbelonging-95021">Windrush generation</a> were asked to to prove their legality within Britain.</p>
<p>As Arthur Snell, a former British high commissioner for Trinidad and Tobago, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/25/arthur-snell-high-commissioner-baby-denied-uk-passport-2011">put it</a>, the:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Home Office appears to have a policy that says you, the applicant, must prove in the face of a very, very sceptical and negative institution, that you have this right. And, you can expect the Home Office to effectively answer in the negative wherever they can.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But far from being a one off, this culture of disbelief is routine for those seeking refuge from persecution in the UK, highlighting the extent of the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-the-uk-governments-draconian-immigration-policy-explained-95460">hostile environment</a>” created by the Home Office.</p>
<p>Official <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/assets/0004/2566/Asylum_Statistics_Annual_Trends_Feb_2018.pdf">statistics</a> for 2017 reveal that 26,350 people claimed for asylum in the UK, a reduction from previous years. The claimants are drawn from countries such as Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Bangladesh and Sudan. Yet only 29% were granted refugee status, a figure the Refugee Council claims is the lowest grant rate in the past five years. Rejection is the norm within the UK, for there is an overly large burden of proof placed on those seeking refuge. </p>
<h2>Onus of proof and storytelling</h2>
<p>The UN Refugee Agency <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/3d58e13b4.html">asserts</a> that to be granted refugee status, the burden of proof lies solely with the asylum seeker. The asylum seeker needs to prove that they have a “well-founded fear” of persecution and that they are unable to seek protection from the authorities within their home country. Yet, due to the nature of persecution, few refugees will have records of their torture, rape or harassment to assist their claim.</p>
<p>Due to the burden of proof, it’s essential that the asylum seeker speaks of their experience of persecution and provides all necessary evidence. Gaining refugee status rests upon the telling of a story and having that story believed. This makes language central to the process of asylum. But it also becomes one of the central barriers to attaining refugee status. For if all you have is a story, then belief, credibility and consistency become central to your application.</p>
<h2>Punished for silences and inconsistencies</h2>
<p>All asylum seekers go through an asylum interview where they must be as accurate and consistent as possible in telling their story of persecution. The Home Office <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/410098/Asylum_Interviews_AI.pdf">stresses</a> that inconsistencies will be held against the asylum seeker and they will then be viewed as lacking in credibility. </p>
<p>However, the act of recounting a trauma does not necessarily result in a coherent and consistent narrative. Fragmentation can be part of the memory itself – making it almost impossible to narrate a coherent and chronological account, consistently. From my own <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15562948.2018.1429697">recent research</a> into memory, language and the asylum system, one lawyer spoke at length on the fragility of memory and the need for clarity and consistency. She noted that the asylum story might make sense in the client’s mind, but there can be inconsistencies to others. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It really challenges them, for they have formed some kind of narrative and it’s actually inaccurate and you need to unravel it to work out what’s gone wrong where, to make things make sense.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s within this struggle to articulate trauma that silence can act as a bridge between what is speakable and unspeakable. Yet the asylum process demands that “unspeakable” events of persecution be articulated. Silence is perceived generally by the Home Office as a sign of evasiveness and unresponsiveness, with failure to answer a question again <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/397778/ASSESSING_CREDIBILITY_AND_REFUGEE_STATUS_V9_0.pdf">viewed</a> as “damaging to the claimant’s credibility”. </p>
<p>Silence though, can occur for a variety of factors – struggling to comprehend the trauma that forced you to flee your home, “cultural shock” and the unwillingness to reveal personal information to individuals in authority, or silence as a coping mechanism. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-britains-asylum-appeal-system-what-its-like-to-challenge-the-home-office-88907">Inside Britain's asylum appeal system – what it's like to challenge the Home Office</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In a squeezed system, with reduced funding and <a href="https://theconversation.com/revealed-legal-advice-for-asylum-seekers-disappearing-due-to-legal-aid-cuts-86897">legal aid cuts</a>, it’s a lottery as to whether an applicant gets a lawyer and a case worker from the Home Office who will take the time to understand the asylum claim before them. Each claim is complex, and asylum seekers need time and resources to acquire the necessary evidence, be it medical, psychological or specialist reports. Without them, the asylum seeker has just a story.</p>
<p>For the Windrush generation, the challenges are different. These people are not claiming asylum but are now fighting to have their status recognised. As a result of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-immigration-policy-has-made-britain-a-precarious-place-to-call-home-95546">hostile environment</a>, introduced by Theresa May as home secretary, employers, NHS and landlords are now required to ask for proof of citizenship or immigration status – something the Windrush generation were never given, nor needed, until now. All they have is their word that they had arrived as part of the Windrush generation. </p>
<p>The scandal has revealed to the public a culture of disbelief within the Home Office. This hostility extends to asylum cases, where the highest levels of consistency, coherency and narrative formation are required of all claimants. While the <a href="https://theconversation.com/sajid-javid-amber-rudd-and-the-trouble-with-heading-the-home-office-95811">resignation of Amber Rudd</a> as home secretary may be welcome news for some, the hostile environment is endemic of the Home Office itself. Regardless of who holds the department’s top job, the culture of disbelief will remain until the institution itself changes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94664/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gillian McFadyen received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council for this research (PhD Quota Award 2009-2014). </span></em></p>A culture of disbelief for asylum seekers is endemic in the British immigration system.Gillian McFadyen, Lecturer in International Politics, Aberystwyth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/956772018-04-27T11:31:48Z2018-04-27T11:31:48ZHome Office deportation targets show how Britain’s immigration system is harmful by design<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216625/original/file-20180427-175058-lb5hyn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Under pressure: Home secretary, Amber Rudd. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Parliament TV</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>April has been a month of turbulence for the Home Office. The aftermath of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/windrush-52562">Windrush exposé</a> has shaken British politics to its core. And now Amber Rudd has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43944988">resigned</a> as home secretary, days after <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/apr/26/amber-rudd-admits-home-office-set-local-targets-for-deportations">admitting</a> that her department had internal regional targets to remove illegalised people from the country – some from the Windrush generation who were already British subjects.</p>
<p>By setting targets, the intricacies of people’s histories are erased, and humans are reduced to statistics. For those applying for asylum, it means details of persecution are overlooked in favour of increasing removals.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/windrush-generation-the-history-of-unbelonging-95021">Windrush generation: the history of unbelonging</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>For many immigrants, and anyone working on issues around immigration, the admission that targets existed should come as no surprise. The push toward reducing <a href="https://theconversation.com/britains-obsession-with-net-migration-makes-it-a-global-anomaly-67093">net migration</a> was a key objective under David Cameron’s Conservative government, driven by Theresa May during her time as home secretary. It provided a platform for bypassing the rights of immigrants. Everyday aspects of migration have now <a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-the-uk-governments-draconian-immigration-policy-explained-95460">become illegal activities</a> – from renting homes to having the right to work, the civil liberties of immigrants have been gradually eroded. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.open.edu/openlearn/people-politics-law/politics-policy-people/timeline-the-criminalisation-asylum#1">criminalisation of immigration</a> hit boiling point with the introduction of the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/22/contents/enacted">Immigration Act 2014</a>, which deleted a clause mentioned in previous legislation that protected long-term British residents from deportation. The Act contained a package of measures aimed at “maximising” voluntary returns through the creation of a very hostile environment for individuals. It was a deliberate erosion of the rights of ethnic and racial minorities. </p>
<p>One consequence of this has been a <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/547681/ICIBI-report-on-Removals-_December_2015.pdf">monumental increase</a> in the annual target of these so-called “voluntary” returns, from 7,200 in 2014-15 to 12,000 in 2015-16, detailed in a report by the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration. The immigration minister chaired weekly meetings on performance against targets across the whole system. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, when Rudd was questioned on these targets by the Home Affairs Select Committee on April 25, she <a href="https://news.sky.com/video/square-video-amber-rudd-targets-001mp4-11346848">confidently stated</a> “we don’t have targets for removals”. Less than 24 hours later, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/apr/26/amber-rudd-admits-home-office-set-local-targets-for-deportations">she admitted</a> to the use of targets, and the calls for her resignation got louder. She has since <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43902599">pledged</a> to get rid of any removal targets.</p>
<h2>A culture of callousness</h2>
<p>The use of targets has been well documented in the asylum system, with serious and damaging consequences for people seeking refugee status. In 2017, an asylum case worker wrote an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2017/apr/08/asylum-caseworkers-home-office-cuts-syria-war">anonymous letter</a> to The Guardian stating that, initial training for caseworkers involved establishing “credibility” – largely around ways to explain disbelief of applicants’ stories and write letters of refusal to applicants. This was combined with productivity targets attached to “end decisions”. In February 2018, three former caseworkers and whistleblowers <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/11/lottery-asylum-system-unjust-home-office-whistleblowers">described the target culture</a>, which encouraged biased interviews with those seeking asylum and “cut-and-paste” refusal decisions.</p>
<p>The complex experiences of individuals fleeing torture, sexual violence and various other forms of trauma and threats – many of whom face physical and mental distress – are disbelieved and discredited to meet a callous target culture. Credibility is a vague constant in refusal letters where small details – such as minor inconsistencies in the use of language – are used to undermine the validity of applicant’s claims. To give just one example, a case we saw argued that credibility was in part undermined because the applicant confused “father” with “stepfather”. The applicant had known him since she was two years old. It’s an easy mistake in a second language, but one which builds a picture of someone who can be doubted.</p>
<p>When people seek asylum they are expected to give details of persecution in their first interview – something that can be very difficult for survivors of violence or trauma to do. From our experiences of working with people seeking asylum, it is clear that anyone who discloses experiences of violence, or who state that they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, in any later interviews are often disbelieved and their “credibility” is reduced. People are silenced from the outset, making refusals a staple diet of Britain’s treatment of refugees.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-an-asylum-seeker-have-to-do-to-prove-their-sexuality-38407">What does an asylum seeker have to do to prove their sexuality?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The death of compassion</h2>
<p>The human consequences of target cultures, inaccurate asylum case reviews and “cut-and-paste” refusals are a constant presence in the asylum system. Take the example below: a letter sent by the Home Office to an organisation which has been working with a man seeking asylum, who has attempted suicide four times. Rather than show compassion, the letter – a copy of which was passed to us anonymously – shows a drive to deport at any cost, passing responsibility to the already stretched adult social services. </p>
<p>This was the second letter the organisation received, because the first had the wrong file attached. Subsequently, so did the second. Only on the third occasion was the correct information included.</p>
<p>What we have here is human error, a consequence of structural failures which have let targets triumph over accuracy. It’s not the first either of us has seen, but this letter tells us something deeper about Home Office approaches to people seeking asylum: they do not care if this man attempts suicide. Like the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/yarls-wood-home-office-women-deported-more-quickly-hunger-strike-a8239611.html">evidence</a> that the Home Office were escalating deportations of women on hunger strike in Yarl’s Wood, it tells us that the Home Office’s compassion for the lives of migrants has itself died. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-befriend-women-detained-at-yarls-wood-their-life-in-immigration-limbo-is-excruciating-92905">I befriend women detained at Yarl's Wood: their life in immigration limbo is excruciating</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Under the UNHCR’s <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/uk/1951-refugee-convention.html">Refugee Convention</a>, all applications for asylum should be considered on an individual basis and relate to one of five forms of persecution. As such, the very existence of a culture of deportation targets is a fundamental contradiction to the rights of refugees – and the rights of migrants more broadly. </p>
<p>Neither of us is surprised by either the Windrush expose nor the admission of deportation targets – but everyone should be. The hostile environment is a deeply racialised process, with serious human costs. It is not accidental, nor does it operate in a vacuum. That means we can change it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95677/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Canning receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>In 2014, Monish Bhatia received an Carnegie Trust award to research on impacts of destitution.
Affiliations:
European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control (Board Member)
The Scottish Refugee Council (Board Member)
Right to Remain (Committee Member)
</span></em></p>Home Office deportation targets reduce complex human stories to statistics.Victoria Canning, Lecturer in Criminology and Social Policy, The Open UniversityMonish Bhatia, Lecturer in Criminology, Birkbeck, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/954602018-04-26T09:18:27Z2018-04-26T09:18:27ZHostile environment: the UK government’s draconian immigration policy explained<p>Immigration policy under Theresa May’s tenure might be the most draconian in Britain’s history. Never has an administration focused so much time and effort on an anti-migration policy – and one that is failing by all counts at that. </p>
<p>Countless restrictive measures have been placed on almost every migration stream since 2010, when the coalition government set itself a flawed net migration target. This was driven by a <a href="https://www.conservatives.com/%7E/media/Files/Manifesto2010">Conservative manifesto pledge</a> to reduce annual immigration from hundreds of thousands of people to tens of thousands. Behind the changes to the immigration rules has been an overarching policy to create a “hostile environment”. The public is now seeing the harsh and inhumane implications of this policy, with the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/20/the-week-that-took-windrush-from-low-profile-investigation-to-national-scandal">Windrush generation</a>, who helped to rebuild post-war Britain, being denied their rights. But what is this hostile environment and where did this policy come from? </p>
<p>The story starts back in 2004, when the Labour government allowed unfettered access to the UK labour market to citizens of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-huge-political-cost-of-blairs-decision-to-allow-eastern-european-migrants-unfettered-access-to-britain-66077">countries</a> in Eastern Europe that had just joined the EU. As the implications of this were borne out <a href="http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/eu-migration-to-and-from-the-uk/">over the 2000s</a>, a political opportunity arose to fuse the once separate issues of EU membership and immigration. That opportunity was grasped by the<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=mJoXAwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=revolt+on+the+right&ots=IP_Z6wsNDi&sig=Zv4YuWEx9EL51Yq-_XR0EzMnpto#v=onepage&q=revolt%20on%20the%20right&f=false"> UK Independence Party (UKIP)</a>, which positioned itself as the party to end immigration. With UKIP gaining ground, and an anti-immigration stance looking like the winning ticket, the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/pa/article-abstract/61/2/291/1591711">once socially liberal David Cameron</a> became increasingly authoritarian in immigration policy and discourse. That is what led to the infamously flawed net migration target. </p>
<p>Under then home secretary Theresa May’s leadership, every migration stream was <a href="http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN05829#fullreport">restricted in some way</a>. High skilled routes were closed and a cap was placed on the number of Tier 2 visas issued annually. Eligibility criteria were harshly increased. The remaining seasonal schemes were terminated and family reunification was made harder. A swathe of other stringent measures on language requirements, income thresholds, economic resources, working rights and increasing settlement requirements came in across all migration streams. </p>
<p>But it turned out that reducing immigration was not quite as simple as shutting the doors. This is partly because the UK couldn’t restrict the movement of EU citizens (cue Cameron’s referendum and the road to Brexit). But it was also due in large part to the fact that the UK labour market is <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/to-be-less-dependent-on-immigration-britain-must-change-its-model-of-capitalism/">structurally dependent</a> on migrants. So to dovetail the restrictive policies, May institutionalised the notion of a hostile environment. </p>
<h2>Hostile environment: outsourcing controls</h2>
<p>May first spoke about creating a hostile environment in 2012 when challenged on why annual net immigration, then running at about 250,000, was not reaching the promised tens of thousands. Her response: “<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/9291483/Theresa-May-interview-Were-going-to-give-illegal-migrants-a-really-hostile-reception.html">The aim is to create, here in Britain, a really hostile environment for illegal immigrants”</a>. The broad objective is and was to make life as difficult as possible for any irregular migrant – or any migrant the Home Office judged as potentially illegal in lieu of the correct documentation. They would be “encouraged” to leave voluntarily. </p>
<p>The basic idea behind the hostile environment has two components. First, the <a href="https://www.ippr.org/files/images/media/files/publication/2013/04/one-step-forward_immigration-institutions_Apr2013_10679.pdf">burden of proof</a> shifted. Any non-British passport holder was assumed to have violated immigration rules until proven otherwise. Deport first, appeal later. Second, knowing that border controls are only one element of immigration control, the policy shifted to internal controls. This meant that migrants must prove their right to reside at every turn. When they sought medical treatment, rented a home, applied for a driving licence or got a job, they faced immigration checks. Immigration control now extends far beyond the border.</p>
<p>This has entailed outsourcing immigration controls to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369183X.1998.9976660">private actors</a>, and dispersing the immigration control remit away from the silo of the Home Office across Whitehall. Both processes mean the Home Office can pursue its draconian policy while placing the onus and liability on others. </p>
<p>While outsourcing controls is not new, the 2014 Act pushed the practice to the limits. It meant that public sector and private workers – from the NHS, to landlords – with little training or knowledge of the immigration system are now enforcers of immigration control.</p>
<h2>Immigration Acts</h2>
<p>The hostile environment policy was translated in the Immigration Acts of 2014 and 2016 which included myriad measures to prevent people from accessing employment, healthcare, housing, education, banking and other basic services.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-bill">2014 Act</a> requires private landlords to check the immigration status of tenants and temporary migrants to make contribution to the NHS. Banks must check against a database of known immigration offenders before opening a bank account. The Act created new powers to check the immigration status of driving licence applicants and revoke those of overstayers, and made it easier and quicker to remove those with no rights to reside.</p>
<p>Extending the hostile environment, the government sought to refocus efforts on illegal working and give more power to enforce immigration laws in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-bill-2015-16">2016 Immigration Act</a>. This introduced new sanctions on illegal workers, prevents irregular migrants from accessing housing, driving licenses and bank accounts, and included new measures to make it easier to remove illegal migrants. </p>
<p>Concerns were raised at the time about the potential for such document checks to lead to <a href="http://www.jcwi.org.uk/policy/news/immigration-act-2014-summary-provisions">discriminatory behaviour from landlords and others</a>. Such concerns have come to bear with the <a href="https://research.rla.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/state-intervention-into-renting-2017-report.pdf">Residential Landlords Association</a> finding that as a result of the “right to rent” checks on tenants, 42% of landlords are now less likely to let to anyone without a British passport. </p>
<p>Immigration policies so often have unintended consequences which are not anticipated; <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Yls6DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=consterdine+labour%27s+immigration+policy+BOOK&ots=v-cWyjogaR&sig=Lf3Upe1OZEIiKJ4PByqOJsN4mMA#v=onepage&q=consterdine%20labour's%20immigration%20policy%20BOOK&f=false">New Labour’s managed migration</a> and the political ramifications of that policy for the country is a case in point. When the unintended consequences are British residents harassed daily by the state to prove their belonging, obstructing peoples’ lives to work and have a home, policy has not become hostile but downright authoritarian.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95460/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erica Consterdine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In a bid to meet unrealistic migration targets, the government has been enforcing document checks at every turn.Erica Consterdine, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Immigration Politics & Policy, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/955462018-04-25T12:42:33Z2018-04-25T12:42:33Z‘Hostile environment’ immigration policy has made Britain a precarious place to call home<p>In the wake of the scandal about the way members of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/windrush-52562">“Windrush generation”</a> have been treated by UK authorities, the government has been forced to acknowledge the consequences of its “hostile environment” immigration policy, <a href="https://theconversation.com/even-before-brexit-theresa-mays-laws-made-britain-a-hostile-place-for-migrants-62467">pioneered by Theresa May</a> during her time as home secretary.</p>
<p>A steady stream of reports in recent months has documented the experiences of long-term residents, many arriving in the 1950s and 60s from the Commonwealth, who have suddenly been told they no longer have permission to remain in the UK. Under the hostile environment they are prevented from accessing NHS care, employment, welfare benefits, rented accommodation, bank accounts and driving licences.</p>
<p>The government has <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-team-to-help-commonwealth-citizens-confirm-their-status-in-the-uk">now promised</a> a new team of caseworkers to help Commonwealth citizens address their status as a priority. In a statement in parliament, the home secretary, Amber Rudd, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/home-secretary-statement-on-the-windrush-generation">apologised</a> to those affected and promised them a free route to British citizenship and the possibility of compensation.</p>
<p>For a number of years, my colleagues and I at the Kent Law Clinic at the University of Kent have been dealing with cases of people caught up within the bureaucratic nightmare of trying to prove their existence as a lawful resident of the UK. It can be like a character in a Kafka novel who wakes up one morning to find themselves in a seemingly incomprehensible situation. Their initial response is often to imagine that this can be cleared up by a simple phonecall to the Home Office to explain that it is all a misunderstanding – and yet then months and sometimes years pass with no response.</p>
<p>One of our recent cases involved a US citizen, resident in the UK for over 50 years, since he was 18 months old, who suddenly found himself unable to work when the Home Office informed a prospective employer that it had no record of his lawful residence. This was despite an almost unbroken record of national insurance contributions since the age of 16. It took almost six months, and the intervention of a local MP, before it was resolved. Our client described how his life was destroyed, he was unable to work, became bankrupt and suffered depression and anxiety not knowing if he would face deportation. </p>
<h2>Removing the right to remain</h2>
<p>The recent cases of members of the Windrush generation threatened with deportation are only the most extreme end of a wider spectrum of long-term residents who are finding that even after many years of living in the UK they have no right to remain. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/windrush-scandal-a-historian-on-why-destroying-archives-is-never-a-good-idea-95481">Windrush scandal: a historian on why destroying archives is never a good idea</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There are plenty of other cases which are more complicated and where a person’s immigration status may be uncertain or even unlawful and yet they have been resident for many years. This is particularly the case for those brought to the UK as children who never had their immigration status regularised. In such cases, they may only have discovered their lack of legal status as an adult <a href="https://miclu.org/assets/uploads/2017/04/Precarious-Citizenship-Report.pdf">when confronted</a> by an aspect of the hostile environment. While many of these people could probably make valid immigration applications, the <a href="http://www.biduk.org/posts/15-uk-cuts-legal-aid-to-immigrants-report-claims">lack of legal aid</a> and <a href="https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/kentlawclinic/2017/04/04/immigration-fees-set-to-rise-again/">high fees</a> make this a very difficult process.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216287/original/file-20180425-175069-147jhnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216287/original/file-20180425-175069-147jhnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216287/original/file-20180425-175069-147jhnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216287/original/file-20180425-175069-147jhnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216287/original/file-20180425-175069-147jhnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216287/original/file-20180425-175069-147jhnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216287/original/file-20180425-175069-147jhnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A precarious process.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our clinic recently acted for a young man who had already been granted a period of 30 months leave to remain based on his residence and private life in the UK. Confronted by an application fee of £993, unable to access legal advice to understand the possibility of applying for a fee waiver, and simultaneously dealing with housing difficulties and potential homelessness, he managed to overstay his leave to remain. His case is still pending, and so he has returned to the hostile environment and will continue to face this until his status is eventually regularised once again. </p>
<p>Those of the Windrush generation who were citizens of the UK and its then colonies were able to immediately settle in the UK before 1973. Yet recent government policy has been to delay or restrict altogether the permanent settlement of non-EU nationals, even as the UK still relies significantly on temporary labour migration. There are therefore a growing number of resident non-nationals building lives in the UK and becoming integrated but with no guarantee that they will ultimately be permitted to settle.</p>
<p>As I argue in a <a href="https://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/uk/law-and-the-precarious-home-9781509914609/">recent article</a>, the UK is becoming an increasingly precarious home for those without British citizenship. This has potentially damaging consequences for attempts to create integrated communities.</p>
<p>One example is a family of four, who the Kent Law Clinic represented, who after 12 years residence have been unable to afford the £9,556 necessary to obtain indefinite leave to remain and are therefore faced with needing to make repeated further immigration applications every 30 months. Such people live with a continuing sense of uncertainty – not knowing if the law will change in the future or whether a small error in a future application will lead to a refusal, which would mean they are suddenly locked out of meaningful participation in a community to which they have belonged for years.</p>
<p>As the UK prepares to confer on resident EU citizens a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-eu-citizens-at-risk-of-failing-to-secure-settled-status-after-brexit-94947">new “settled status”</a> in UK law to replace their current free movement rights protected by EU law, the current scandal should act as a warning to the EU to ensure that adequate safeguards are made a part of the withdrawal agreement. Given the light that has been shone on the plight of the Windrush generation, perhaps it is also now time to question the wider approach to future generations of long-term resident non-nationals.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>A version of this article was also published on the <a href="https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/countercurrents/">Countercurrents Kent Law School Blog</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95546/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Warren works for the Kent Law Clinic. He is in receipt of the Larry Grant Scholarship.</span></em></p>An immigration law expert on what it’s like to navigate the UK’s hostile environment.Richard Warren, PhD candidate, Kent Law School, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/951582018-04-17T16:22:15Z2018-04-17T16:22:15ZWindrush generation latest to be stripped of their rights in the name of ‘migration control’<p>Some of those who came legally to the UK as part of the “<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43782241">Windrush generation</a>”, many of whom are now elderly, have lost their jobs, homes, and bank accounts after being <a href="https://www.freemovement.org.uk/why-caribbean-commonwealth-citizens-are-being-denied-immigration-status/">unable to demonstrate</a> their legal status. They have been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/22/theresa-may-refuses-to-intervene-over-mans-54000-nhs-cancer-bill-albert-thompson">denied NHS services</a>. They have been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jan/11/paulette-wilson-threatened-with-deportation-after-50-years-in-uk-leave-to-remain">detained</a>. And it’s <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/amber-rudd-admits-she-does-not-know-how-many-windrush-immigrants-have-been-wrongly-deported_uk_5ad49338e4b0edca2cbbebc2">likely</a> that some have been deported. </p>
<p>After The Guardian broke the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/28/i-cant-eat-or-sleep-the-grandmother-threatened-with-deportation-after-50-years-in-britain">story</a> in late 2017 of grandmother Paulette Wilson who, 50 years after she entered the UK as a child, found herself in immigration detention and facing removal to Jamaica, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/21/ive-been-here-for-50-years-the-scandal-of-the-former-commonwealth-citizens-threatened-with-deportation">similar reports</a> began to emerge. </p>
<p>At the time of writing, more than 160,000 people had signed a <a href="https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/216539">parliamentary petition</a> for amnesty and compensation for people like Wilson. A <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/16/mps-urge-may-to-resolve-immigration-status-of-windrush-children">letter</a>, signed by 140 MPs, urged the prime minister to guarantee their status. </p>
<p>In a debate in parliament on April 16, the home secretary, Amber Rudd, <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-04-16/debates/5E545437-9FD6-4A7F-901A-C0790C18A628/OralAnswersToQuestions">apologised</a>. She said: “Frankly, some of how they have been treated has been wrong – has been appalling – and I am sorry.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"985912802853433344"}"></div></p>
<p>Forced by the strength of feeling in the country, the government <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43780621">promised</a> to create a task force to resolve the matter. The prime minister finally <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43792411">met</a> with Caribbean officials on April 17 to apologise about the issue. All this came as Commonwealth leaders gathered in London for the <a href="https://www.chogm2018.org.uk">2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting</a>, providing another opportunity to put pressure on the UK to fix the situation and to make amends. </p>
<p>It’s urgent that those affected are returned the rights they have been denied and that compensation is paid. But this is not enough.</p>
<p>Speaking in parliament, Rudd <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-04-16/debates/7234878F-ACEE-48DD-A94C-9013B38FA465/WindrushChildren(ImmigrationStatus)">added</a> that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This is about individuals, and we have heard the individual stories, some of which have been terrible to hear. That is why I have acted. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>And it is about individuals, but it’s also part of a bigger picture. For a start, a similar story has affected people <a href="https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/immigration-lawyers-angry-but-not-shocked-at-windrush-crisis/5065697.article">born in places across the Commonwealth</a>, both within and outside the Caribbean. </p>
<p>But also, this marks the latest step in a process towards an increasingly “hostile” and brutal UK political and legal environment, which is framed as being about controlling migration. For example, there are key parallels between the change in rhetoric that has led Commonwealth citizens to be threatened with deportation and the rhetoric surrounding the referendum on whether to leave the EU. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/history-offers-britain-an-important-lesson-on-shutting-down-immigration-65840">History offers Britain an important lesson on shutting down immigration</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the UK, it has become accepted that policies can be used to “displace” ever new categories of people from everyday life, including from the rule of law. This is a displacement driven by policy, <a href="https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2018/02/migration-policy">not migration</a>. And it is a worrying trend.</p>
<h2>Gradually removing rights</h2>
<p>While this process was certainly in motion <a href="https://theconversation.com/history-offers-britain-an-important-lesson-on-shutting-down-immigration-65840">long before</a>, the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/77">1971 Immigration Act</a> marked an <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/united-kingdom-reluctant-country-immigration">important transition point</a>. More recently, the 1990s saw renewed efforts against irregular immigrants, and the creation of the “bogus asylum seeker” – a phrase which <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/james-souter/bogus-asylum-seekers-ethics-of-truth-telling-in-asylum-system">makes no sense</a>. Little by little, people who had travelled to the UK without papers <a href="https://www.homeless.org.uk/our-work/resources/supporting-people-with-no-recourse-to-public-funds">lost access</a> to basic rights. </p>
<p>In the 2000s, there was increasing use of the UK’s <a href="https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/europe/united-kingdom">now notorious</a> system of <a href="https://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/files/files-1/wp27-evolution-immigration-detention-uk-2005.pdf">immigration detention</a>, which in 2007 became a <a href="http://refugeehistory.org/blog/2017/11/7/history-of-immigration-detention">default</a> for some. </p>
<p>Amid the <a href="https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/human-rights/countering-terrorism/detention-without-charge">debates</a> about the detention of terror suspects without trial, foreign nationals subject to immigration control measures languished indefinitely in privately run <a href="https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/europe/united-kingdom">detention centres up and down the UK</a>. They didn’t, and still don’t, have the protections of due process, nor are they being held in appropriate conditions with a specified release date. Increasingly, reports suggest they have also been subject to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/01/g4s-staff-suspended-brook-house-immigration-centre-claims-abuse">violence</a>, including <a href="https://www.asylumaid.org.uk/parliamentary-question-reveals-extent-sexual-assaults-yarls-wood/">sexual</a> assault. </p>
<p>As all this continued, even those who thought they would be protected by their internationally recognised refugee status found their situation becoming increasingly difficult in the UK. Many remained <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/number-of-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-falling-into-poverty-soars-in-a-year-show-figures-a8195746.html">without access</a> to work or housing, health care or other support for lengthening periods. Increasing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/03/croydon-attack-comes-as-charities-report-growing-number-of-hate-crimes">racism and hostility</a> towards minority ethnic and religious groups is part of making life unbearable for some of those who have fled persecution.</p>
<h2>A hostile environment</h2>
<p>In 2012, home secretary Theresa May <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/9291483/Theresa-May-interview-Were-going-to-give-illegal-migrants-a-really-hostile-reception.html">set out</a> to “create a really hostile environment for illegal migrants”. Beginning in 2015, <a href="https://theconversation.com/even-before-brexit-theresa-mays-laws-made-britain-a-hostile-place-for-migrants-62467">new operations</a> scooped up homeless non-citizens for detention and deportation. </p>
<p>This created additional fears for asylum seekers who were hiding in the shadows, terrified of being returned to somewhere that they considered worse than sleeping rough during a British winter. Where asylum seekers were given help, it was increasingly mean. Families were split, accommodation offered was <a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-repeated-failings-private-firms-continue-to-run-asylum-housing-70949">unsanitary</a>, with infestations and intimidation. </p>
<p>In 2017, children with families and connections in the UK, who had been surviving alone in the “jungle” of Calais, were <a href="https://theconversation.com/questions-over-age-of-refugee-children-show-how-ugly-britain-has-become-67335">lambasted in the press</a> and their right to protection questioned.</p>
<p>Citizens of other European countries, who arrived in the UK under conditions of free movement and created lives in the country under the reasonable supposition that they could stay forever, were told that their future was uncertain in the wake of the referendum about whether to leave the EU. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ukip.org/ukip_national_billboard_campaign">political rhetoric</a> and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/uk-student-stabbed-in-neck-for-speaking-polish-brutal-post-brexit-assault-telford-donnington-park-a7319181.html">violent incidents</a> against people speaking European languages in public recall the experiences half a century ago of those who had arrived from elsewhere in the Commonwealth, many of whom within a context of free movement.</p>
<p>All of this continues to this day. And now it is the turn of older men and women, many of whom arrived in the UK as British subjects and never had any reason to suppose that had changed. People who had lived for half a century in Britain suddenly started discovering that their own country was rejecting them. They were being <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13621025.2015.1110284">displaced from it without having moved</a>.</p>
<p>Brutality can slither into the rule of law, weave itself through free and fair political institutions, infect the public forum and infiltrate everyday life. But it can be stopped. </p>
<p>If you are worried about your own status or that of someone you know, <a href="https://www.freemovement.org.uk/why-caribbean-commonwealth-citizens-are-being-denied-immigration-status/">seek help</a>. If you are not worried about your own status, then you can use your position to help others. You can reach out to neighbours and make sure they are okay. You can volunteer with a local organisation or join a campaign. You can speak to your friends, colleagues, your MP; use your vote if you have one. </p>
<p>It’s time to end the removal of rights of people in the UK in the name of “migration control”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95158/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tendayi Bloom does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s time to stop the brutality of the UK’s ‘hostile environment’ for migrants.Tendayi Bloom, Lecturer in Politics and International Studies, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/901202018-01-15T14:46:39Z2018-01-15T14:46:39ZThe British public aren’t as polarised on immigration as you might think<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201931/original/file-20180115-101514-15rwf3x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The rhetoric and reality about immigration. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/home">www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The British government’s target to bring net migration down to the <a href="http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/commentaries/net-migration-target-2017-election/">tens of thousands</a> has been criticised in a new <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/home-affairs-committee/inquiries/parliament-2017/immigration-policy-consensus-17-19/">report</a> by MPs, who claim it lumps all forms of migration together and has polarised opinion rather than responding to pre-existing concerns. Net migration – the difference between the number of people coming to the UK and those leaving – stood at <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/bulletins/migrationstatisticsquarterlyreport/november2017">230,000</a> in the 12 months to June 2017. </p>
<p>The report, by the Home Affairs Committee, presents the findings of two recent inquiries prompted by the vote for the UK to leave the European Union. The success of the Leave vote has been widely attributed to opposition to <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/brexit-latest-news-leave-eu-immigration-main-reason-european-union-survey-a7811651.html">the free movement</a> of people within the EU, and to immigration more broadly. </p>
<p>The inquiries aimed to develop a consensus on Britain’s future immigration policy, and included written and oral submissions, opinion polls, online surveys, formal hearings, and informal community meetings. The organisations British Future and Hope Not Hate also organised 60 “citizen panels” as part of a national conversation on immigration. </p>
<p>The results suggest that the general public are both less <a href="http://blog.policy.manchester.ac.uk/posts/2017/07/survey-polarised-views-immigration/">polarised</a> and more open to new information and rational argument about migration than was <a href="https://www.barrowcadbury.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/UnderstandingandChangingPublicAttitudes_June09_ExecSummary.pdf">previously thought</a>. </p>
<p>The government claims that increased immigration <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2017/06/29/book-review-go-home-the-politics-of-immigration-controversies-by-hannah-jones-et-al/">surveillance and enforcement</a>, the now-infamous <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/28/hostile-environment-the-hardline-home-office-policy-tearing-families-apart">“hostile environment”</a> for newcomers, and a target for total net migration, are <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/theresa-may-defends-post-brexit-migration-curbs-after-leaked-paper-11023194">driven by public concerns</a>. But the report questions this, with MPs suggesting a more appropriate response to public concerns would be to increase resources for public services and provide the public with better information about the realities of migration.</p>
<p>When asked about immigration in the abstract, <a href="http://natcen.ac.uk/our-research/research/british-social-attitudes/">opinion surveys</a> suggest that a majority of the British population want numbers reduced. But the findings from the citizen panels suggest that when people are given more concrete information, such as the reasons people move and the kind of jobs they do, many more are happy for migration to continue. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201933/original/file-20180115-101502-3ul7sq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201933/original/file-20180115-101502-3ul7sq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201933/original/file-20180115-101502-3ul7sq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201933/original/file-20180115-101502-3ul7sq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201933/original/file-20180115-101502-3ul7sq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201933/original/file-20180115-101502-3ul7sq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201933/original/file-20180115-101502-3ul7sq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Net migration has dropped since the Brexit referendum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://visual.ons.gov.uk/migration-since-the-brexit-vote-whats-changed-in-six-charts/">ONS</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The committee’s inquiries identified widespread public support for <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Refugees-Capitalism-and-the-British-State-Implications-for-Social-Workers/Vickers/p/book/9781409441526">refugees</a>, who have been subject to severe restrictions even though they are excluded from the net migration target. The MPs found that many people who have concerns about refugee settlement are influenced by <a href="https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745334325/bad-news-for-refugees/">media reports</a> or a lack of accurate information. For example, they might think that asylum seekers are dependent on welfare without understanding that most <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137460417_8">are not allowed to work</a> and so are forced to rely on welfare and charities. </p>
<p>The report suggests many people support migration on the condition that migrants “contribute”, but this seems narrowly defined, excluding <a href="http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/26185/">volunteering</a> and other unpaid activity.</p>
<h2>A time of insecurity</h2>
<p>The MPs identify stories of successful integration, as well as division. They argue that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Tension between resident communities and migrant populations appear most evident in those areas where new arrivals struggle to integrate, are temporary or lack certainty about their future. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The position of migrants is often made <a href="http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29159/">more temporary and uncertain</a> by restrictions on their rights – and improving these rights could actually help reduce hostility. Learning English is <a href="http://nca.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14708477.2017.1368137#.Wlpu4a5l-Uk">important for integration</a>, and there is good <a href="http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29159/">evidence</a> that people want to learn. Yet the report notes that English classes are massively oversubscribed and their public funding has more than halved in seven years. Its authors make the case for increased funding for English language lessons. </p>
<p>High levels of public concern over migration were noted in places where new arrivals have coincided with inadequate resources for local services. The report suggests that if services were provided at an adequate level, this would do a lot to undermine public hostility to migrants. Struggling for resources to meet the needs of everyone in a local community can also <a href="https://focuse15.org/2015/12/03/stand-with-nazrah-and-ismail/">unite people</a>.</p>
<p>Public support for stronger immigration controls cannot be separated from the more general sense of a loss of control caused by economic insecurity, which is <a href="https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/rsa-blogs/2018/01/economic-insecurity-in-our-times-the-rsas-new-analysis">increasingly widespread</a>. A combination of <a href="https://policypress.co.uk/poverty-and-insecurity">low-waged, insecure work</a>, <a href="https://policypress.co.uk/minority-women-and-austerity">public sector cuts</a>, <a href="http://www.welfareconditionality.ac.uk/">welfare conditionality</a>, and the <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/blog/rising-cost-living-will-hit-low-income-households-hard-2018">rising cost of living</a> have left large sections of the population <a href="https://www.ntu.ac.uk/about-us/nottingham-civic-exchange/out-of-the-ordinary">struggling</a> to access the resources they need. Some <a href="https://wbg.org.uk/main-feature/intersecting-inequalities-impact-austerity-bme-women-uk/">groups</a> and <a href="http://www4.shu.ac.uk/research/cresr/hitting-poorest-places-hardest-local-and-regional-impact-welfare-reform-pdf-535mb">places</a> have been particularly severely affected. How people respond to a sense of insecurity is a political question, which is influenced by the way public conversations are framed.</p>
<h2>Beyond national boundaries</h2>
<p>National divisions and country borders are <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/borderscapes">often framed as “natural”</a>, when in fact they are relatively recent interventions that carve up the world and <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/Border-as-Method-or-the-Multiplication-of-Labor/">structure societies</a>. Rather than benign facts of life, borders reflect and reinforce inequalities of power and protect privilege – and can be <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2516-violent-borders">violent</a> as a result.</p>
<p>Global commodities such as <a href="https://monthlyreview.org/product/imperialism_in_the_twenty-first_century/">t-shirts, iPhones and coffee</a> involve conditions of extreme exploitation at the bottom of supply chains, with massive profits captured by multinational companies at the top. Borders facilitate this process, by enabling different regulatory regimes, preventing people in exploitative conditions from moving in search of better opportunities, and enabling a small number of countries to accumulate wealth that is <a href="http://www.gfintegrity.org/report/financial-flows-and-tax-havens-combining-to-limit-the-lives-of-billions-of-people/">drawn in from all over the world</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/do-we-all-have-a-right-to-cross-borders-69835">Do we all have a right to cross borders?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Making the fact that someone has crossed an international border their defining characteristic obscures what people have in common, such as <a href="https://phoebevmoore.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/class-and-panic-in-british-immigration/">class</a>. This can also channel people’s sense of insecurity into a desire to control people from <a href="http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29155/">outside</a> who appear to increase pressure on public resources. These outsiders are then often portrayed as transient and therefore easier to exclude or expel.</p>
<p>Adding deeper questions about the nature of borders to the public conversation on migration, broadening what it means to “contribute” to society, and extending participation beyond British citizens, could open up new possibilities for a broader and more inclusive consensus.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90120/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Vickers has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust. Alongside academic publications he has contributed to a range of campaign and third sector publications including the bulletin of the Runnymede Trust, Open Democracy, the Campaign for Social Science and Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!</span></em></p>A new report from MPs has criticised Britain’s hostile environment for migrants.Tom Vickers, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.