Prime Minister David Cameron has chosen the pages of the Sun newspaper to launch a crackdown on immigrants. In what the tabloid calls his “manifesto”, he claims that “frankly this country became a soft touch”.

Whilst saying that immigration has benefited Britain, his words are a clear bid to win back those voters who have been migrating to the anti-immigration, anti-Europe UK Independence party. Continue reading “Dancing to the tune of the far right”

CLARE SAMBROOK 19 March 2013: The sensitive work of housing vulnerable asylum seekers appears to be defeating the world’s biggest security company. A leaked letter from G4S director (a former Rentokil executive) illuminates the unfolding crisis.

Last year G4S won part of a £620 million government contract to house asylum seekers. It subcontracts the work to smaller companies which have repeatedly failed to provide housing fit for human habitation and whose staff have been accused of harassing vulnerable tenants. A recent Parliamentary inquiry into aspects of asylum policy made searing criticism of housing contractors. The scandal has been exposed by grassroots activists giving voice to asylum seekers’ experience, forcing G4S to take action against its subcontractors. Continue reading “Another G4S scandal: are the UK’s asylum housing subcontractors falling apart?”

As Operation Nexus, which checks the personal details of people arrested by the police against UKBA databases, is rolled out nationally, important questions and concerns are raised by migrant support groups about the way the initiative is carried out and presented to the public.

Operation Nexus was launched last September (under the name Operation Terminus) and, in principle, is targeting foreign national criminals. Apparently there are four strands of work, including cross checking forensic data with UKBA, proactive targeting high-harm offenders and international data –sharing. The strand that concerns us most, however, is the custody suites project. This involved initially embedding UKBA staff in London’s five busiest police custody suites. The initiative has been rolled out pan-London to 22 custody suites and there are plans to roll it out nationally in the next few months. Continue reading “Operation Nexus”

‘Quality and value for money in asylum legal aid’: Julie Gibbs and Deri Hughes-Roberts, November 2012

Final project report: This report aims to help policy makers, practitioners and others consider how best to ensure value for money in civil legal aid. It focuses on experience in the asylum legal sector; brings together the results of research undertaken earlier in this project, some of which has already been published; and seeks to draw out the lessons. This report was commissioned in 2009 by Refugee and Migrant Justice, in partnership with Asylum Aid and the Immigration Advisory Service. Since that time, both Refugee and Migrant Justice and the Immigration Advisory Service have entered administration. In June 2011, the Runnymede Trust was given permission to publish the outstanding reports, including this one. Asylum Aid remains a partner in the final report, together with the Law Centres Network (formerly the Law Centres Federation). The project has been funded throughout by the Baring Foundation. Continue reading “JUSTICE AT RISK”