Life is getting harder for migrants and refugees in the UK. With tougher immigration policies on the horizon, it is more important than ever that we stand in solidarity with migrants and refugees.

In this newsletter, you will find information on our new Who Is Welcome?: Queerness + Migration Event, as well as how to get your free ticket. This event is a really important look at the often neglected intersections between queerness and migration, and we encourage you to come along and explore these links with us. We have also shared a statement on the recent wave of anti-migrant and queerphobic attacks, and how these are connected. You can also read our reflections on LGBT History Month, and the lessons we can take forward from it.

You will also find information about our Challenge The Checks Survey, which is a key piece of work in uncovering the effects of right to work checks on migrant workers. Thank you to all who completed the survey. We have had a decent response, but with a couple of weeks left, we want to ensure we get as good of an understanding of the effects of right to work checks as possible, and so we would greatly appreciate if you could share this survey with your networks.

We remain extremely concerned about the ways that Islamophobia and racism are fueling anti-migrant sentiment. We addressed this in our joint letter on Islamophobia, which you can find out more about below. We have also had increased press interest this month, and our CEO spoke on the issue of Islamophobia and racism on Al Jazeera’s The Stream.

Finally, you can find our statements on Shamima Begum and the asylum backlog below. As always, we have included some Words Matter food for thought.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

In solidarity,

The MRN team

To read more of this month’s newsletter, click here.