400 volunteer lawyers are taking on pro bono cases of people needing to get out of Afghanistan

Worth knowing: DLA Piper are hosting a scheme supported by ILPA where over 400 volunteer lawyers are taking on pro bono cases of people needing to get out of Afghanistan. Email is projecta@dlapiper.com

4 September 2021: i : Hundreds of lawyers team up to help Afghans flee Taliban – and navigate complex refugee systems in the West

The government’s naming of its Afghan resettlement scheme ‘Operation Warm Welcome’ is ‘cynical’ given other obstacles, organiser warns

Nearly 400 lawyers and immigration professionals have teamed up with one of the world’s biggest law firms to form a new group to help people trying to flee Afghanistan, i can reveal.

The group, which is yet to be formerly named but operates as the Afghan Immigration Group, was founded by a clutch of UK asylum lawyers in an attempt to share information and work co-operatively to assist as many people as possible left in danger since the West withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban seized power.

In an exclusive interview with i, UK asylum lawyer Allan Briddock, one of the network’s founders, called the government’s naming of its Afghan resettlement scheme “Operation Warm Welcome” as “cynical”, and part of a “PR campaign” due to the parallel move by the Home Secretary to introduce new asylum laws that would further criminalise refugees fleeing to Britain in a boat or lorry.