100 groups demand safe and legal routes now
[updated 3 Oct 2020 with Channel 4 news item]
17 August 2020: (including the link to a suggested letter to your MP) JCWI: 100 civil society groups, Windrush survivors and religious organisations have come together to demand safe and legal routes now, in response to the government’s dangerous rhetoric surrounding recent Channel crossings. The fact is that people seeking protection in the UK can only do so once they reach UK soil. The lack of safe and legal routes by which to reach the UK means that people are pushed into the hands of people smugglers and forced to take dangerous journeys to claim asylum here.
In its response to Channel crossings, the government has so far sought to abdicate all responsibility. We’ve been here before – if the Home Office is truly serious about learning the lessons of Windrush, they need to listen to expert advice from people who have been through the immigration system, and those who work with them. If they don’t, further tragedy at the UK’s borders seems unavoidable.
Continue reading “100 groups demand safe and legal routes now”Claudia Webbe MP calls for end to NRPF status
12 August 2020 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Claudia Webbe MP calls for end to NRPF status
Claudia Webbe, Member of Parliament for Leicester East, has today written to Priti Patel, Secretary of State for Home Affairs, urging the government, as the UK faces the greatest ever recession, to end the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) immigration status.
The letter (attached) draws attention to the fact that recent Home Office statistics show that the number of migrants with NRPF applying for destitution funds dramatically increased by 572% during the coronavirus crisis.
Continue reading “Claudia Webbe MP calls for end to NRPF status”Home Affairs Committee Inquiry: Channel crossings, migration and asylum-seeking routes through the EU
Inquiry: This inquiry will examine the reasons behind the growth in migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats. It will look at the role of criminal gangs in facilitating the growth of this form of illegal immigration and the response of UK and French authorities to combat illegal migration and support legal routes to asylum.
This inquiry is currently accepting evidence
The committee wants to hear your views. We welcome submissions from anyone with answers to the questions in the call for evidence. You can submit evidence until Monday 14 September 2020.Read the call for evidence before submitting
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Note the language used: Home Secretary appoints small boat commander
Continue reading “Home Affairs Committee Inquiry: Channel crossings, migration and asylum-seeking routes through the EU”Migrants at risk of drowning
Independent: 9 August 2020 Migrants at risk of drowning if Priti Patel sends Navy warships to Channel, warns ex-home secretary
Hardline Australia-style tactics to block fragile vessels also condemned as ‘completely potty’ by defence official
Priti Patel’s plan to use Royal Navy warships to stop migrants crossing the Channel will put them at risk of drowning, a former home secretary says.
Jack Straw issued the warning after the home secretary’s idea – which would see the rising number of boats blocked before they can enter British waters – was branded “completely potty” by a defence official.
Continue reading “Migrants at risk of drowning”Strong political statement here
Guardian: German Protestant church to send migrant rescue boat to Mediterranean
Sea-Watch 4 is result of crowdfunding and is set to leave from Spain in few days
The German Protestant church will send a ship to the central Mediterranean to rescue migrants attempting to reach Europe from north Africa.
The boat, named Sea-Watch 4, will depart in a few days from the seaport of Burriana, near Valencia, in Spain, where volunteers are finalising preparations, the crew has said.
The mission, managed by United4Rescue – an initiative led by the Protestant church in Germany (EKD) and backed by more than 500 other organisations – is the result of a crowdfunding campaign launched a few months ago and named #WirschickeneinSchiff (“We send a ship”).