New Plan for Immigration – Nationality & Borders legislation 2022 enacted

When the will is there, it can be done ā€“ that is our point:Ā  there is hope yet ā€¦ We will collate reports and legal challenges to the Nationality and Borders legislation here.

See also: https://qarn.org.uk/government-plans-for-borders-and-immigration-2023/

3 February 2023: Guardian: Alf Dubs: Braverman calling refugees ā€˜invadersā€™ was low point of my career

Labour peer who fled to UK to escape Nazis says home secretaryā€™s words ā€˜deeply and personally upsetting.

Alf Dubs, the veteran Labour peer who arrived in the UK as a child fleeing the Nazis, has described Suella Bravemanā€™s likening of refugees to invaders as ā€œdeeply and personally upsettingā€, and a low point of his half century in politics.

Dubs, who fled what was then Czechoslovakia unaccompanied in 1939 and came to the UK aged six as part of the Kindertransport system, condemned the home secretary for using language that painted those also fleeing persecution as ā€œhostile peopleā€.

Dubsā€™ comments, made in a new podcast series presented by the Lord Speaker, John McFall, follow criticism of Braverman by another survivor of the Holocaust last month.

In comments made in October, shortly after she was reappointed by Rishi Sunak, Braverman said in the Commons that refugees and migrants crossing the Channel in small boats were ā€œthe invasion on our southern coastā€.

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Disappearing children

29 January 2023: The Observer view on Britainā€™s shameful failings on child refugees

Observer editorial

Abused, kidnapped and lost ā€“ the government should hang its head in shame over its lack of care towards vulnerable minors

Unaccompanied children fleeing war, torture and chaos are surely one of the most vulnerable demographics in the world. Yet an Observer investigation has exposed how once these children reach the UK they can be treated with an appalling lack of care, to the extent that large numbers are being kidnapped in plain sight by criminal gangs. Today, we publish allegations by a whistleblower that the staff in one hotel accommodating some of these already traumatised children have subjected them to repeated emotional abuse.

Peter Kyle, the Labour MP for Hove, has met some of the children being housed in a hotel in his constituency. He hasĀ described their vulnerability: one 15-year-old from Iran who had lost both of his parents travelled to the UK with a friend but was separated from him because he tested positive for Covid and was so anxious ā€œhis face was pinched and his legs were bucklingā€. TheĀ majority of unaccompanied childrenĀ arriving in Britain come from countries with terrible records of conflict and human rights abuses: Iran, Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq.Ā Many will be in immediate danger from the criminal gangsĀ to whom they owe money for smuggling them into the country.

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ICIBI – An inspection of the use of hotels for housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) March – May 2022

19 October 2022: ICIBI – An inspection of the use of hotels for housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) March – May 2022

This inspection examined the use of hotels to accommodate unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, with particular reference to the Home Officeā€™s duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children who are in the United Kingdom.

An inspection of the use of hotels for housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) March – May 2022

Details: This inspection was not included in the Chief Inspectorā€™s original 2021ā€“2022 Inspection Plan but is a response to concerns raised with the inspectorate by stakeholders, and from the inspectorateā€™s own intelligence-gathering activities.

Extract added by QARN: symptomatic of how this system runs

4.15 In all but one of the hotels, the kitchens were permanently closed, and food had to be provided from another location. All the young people had every meal served in take-away containers as the use of plates was, according to contractor staff, not included in the contracts. The food was of mixed quality and the way in which it was provided missed an opportunity to create a more child-centred environment.

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ICIBI: report published – family visas, fees and more

18 October 2022: ICIBI – Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration: Inspection Report Published: An inspection of the Home Officeā€™s processing of family visas September 2021 ā€“ February 2022

This inspection examined the Home Officeā€™s processing of indefinite leave to remain applications on the family visa route

The inspection report focused on:

  • the efficiency of the process and the quality of decisions
  • the accessibility of the application process for applicants
  • the impact on an applicant (and their family) when they are placed on a 10-year route to settlement
  • whether assurances are in place to ensure that discretion is being exercised in decision-making, where appropriate, to put the applicant at the forefront of the process.

Publishing the report, David Neal, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI), said:

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Changing the Conversation on Asylum in the UK

Woodbrooke/QARN event: ‘Changing the Conversation on Asylum in the UK’ held by zoom on 16 June 2022

Below you will find a video of presentations: the speakers agreed to be recorded and you can see the video of presentations by Mariam Yusuf, Rogelio Braga, and Moses Mbano

Loraine Masiya Mponela’s poem and the transcript, which was written for this event.

and a toolkit which can be downloaded

Changing the Conversation on Asylum
CREDIT: ERFAN ALAEI ā€“ THE PAINTING ILLUSTRATES HIS FEARS, HOPES AND CONCERNS. HE HAS EXPERIENCE OF THE UK ASYLUM SYSTEM

This evening event, coming just before Refugee Week, offers a chance to hear from those in the asylum system working to change the conversation on asylum through art, poetry and activism.

Loraine Masiya Mponela pre-recorded her poemThere is plenty room for those wanting to do the right thing’ for this event, because she was speaking elsewhere.

You can watch her recording here

There is plenty room for those wanting to do the right thing


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Little Amal – The Walk: Hope. Too BIG to ignore.

Start with Hope, change will follow

Updated 5 June 2022: Amal is back on the road in UK 19 – 27 June 2022

She will be visiting Manchester, Bradford, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cheltenham, Bristol, Stonehenge, London, Canterbury, and ending on the beach at Folkestone where she arrived last year: https://www.walkwithamal.org/events/


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Young People

23 November 2021: Guardian: ā€˜Performative crueltyā€™: UK treatment of refugees worst ever, says charity

Kent Refugee Action Network says young people arriving on south coast are a benefit, not a problem

On a windswept, bitingly cold day in Folkestone a discreet green portable building is a beacon of welcome on a stretch of the south coast patrolled by Border Force boats and self-proclaimed migrant hunters on the far right.

Inside its cheerfully decorated walls are workers from Kent Refugee Action Network. The organisation has supported young asylum seekers who arrive on the south coast for more than two decades.

Despite the plummeting temperatures and supposedly enhanced border patrols along the French coast, people continue to head for Kentā€™s shores in unseaworthy small boats.

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Women for Refugee Women

QARN signed this letter

Updated 16 June 2021 – see the response below:

30 April 2021: Women for Refugee Women: New Plan will harm women:

OVER 70 LEADERS WORKING WITH REFUGEE WOMEN COME TOGETHER TO HIGHLIGHT TO THE HOME SECRETARY THAT HER NEW PLAN FOR IMMIGRATION WILL HARM WOMEN

The governmentā€™s New Plan for Immigration will harm women seeking asylum. Today, 30 April 2020, more than 70 leaders of organisations and groups supporting women who have sought asylum write to the Home Secretary to express shared concerns about the New Plan.

Read the full letter below:

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Concerns about New Plan for Immigration consultation process

QARN signed this letter: 30 April 2021: Guardian: ā€˜Shamā€™: 200 groups criticise UK government consultation on refugee policy

Bodies say survey is poorly designed, rushed and may exclude refugees from responding

Almost 200 organisations have branded a government consultation on fundamental changes to refugee policy ā€œa shamā€.

A total of 192 refugee, human rights, legal and faith groups have signed a public statement condemning the six-week consultation on the governmentā€™s New Plan for Immigration as ā€œvague, unworkable, cruel and potentially unlawfulā€.

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Support for people seeking asylum

28 April 2021: Home Office to resume evicting some asylum seekers with immediate effect.

23 April 2021: The Home Office writes:

We will be sharing details of the current number of cases for review with local authorities to assist them in planning. However I would like to emphasise that it is not possible at this stage to be definitive about the final volume of cases that will have their support discontinued. This is partly because all individuals will continue to receive a minimum of 21 calendar days notice from the decision to stop their support and have the opportunity to remain in their accommodation, supported under section 4(2) of the 1999 Act, provided that they agree to take reasonable steps to leave the UK (in practical terms by registering with the Home Officeā€™s voluntary returns programme and leaving when a flight can be arranged for them)

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