Open Letters
Sign our open letters against inhumane asylum accommodation here.
Tell your story
Our Hostile Office campaign includes various sections, such as Immigration Raids, Isamophobia and the Digital Hostile Environment (see menu below). As part of the Islamophobia section, we have launched a survey to understand the experience of Muslims in the UK asylum system, in order to identify unique issues they are facing.
If you would like to share your experience, you can fill in our anonymous survey here.
The Home Office is not fit-for-purpose. It is hostile by design. Abolish it.
Delays. Detention. Deportations. The Home Office’s policies are harming refugee and migrant communities. It is creating misery and leaving a wake of heartbreak and painful experiences.
The Government is rewriting the rulebook on refugee and migrants’ rights. Immigration rules are becoming increasingly restrictive to make life unbearable for them.
There are regular and unjustified delays to decision-making for migrant and refugee applications. Family members are separated for life-changing moments. Data-sharing between Government departments compromises their privacy and data rights.
We want and need transformational change to our immigration systems and policies to ensure a positive and welcoming experience for anyone that chooses to make the UK their home.
Hostile Office: Racist by design
At the Migrants’ Rights Network, we know that in order to tackle hostile immigration policy, we need to look at the history of colonialism and the concept of who is seen to be welcome in the UK. If we want to create a just and equitable society for all, we have to be honest about the racism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination ingrained in UK immigration policy.
The Home Office came into existence in 1782, and was initially responsible for certain colonial or plantation business¹. Since then, it has been used to enact laws, most of which have been designed to reduce the population of People of Colour. A leaked government report² concluded that 30 years of racist immigration legislation between 1950 and 1981 was created to reduce the country’s non-White population. The 52-page analysis set out how the British Empire depended on racist ideology in order to function.
From the Windrush scandal and differential treatment of Ukrainians in contrast to other refugee groups such as Afghans, Sudanese or Syrians, to the new Inhumane Migration Bill (‘Illegal Migration’ Bill) working its way through Parliament, we don’t have to look far to see how racism drives immigration policy.
References:
¹https://www.british-history.ac.uk/office-holders/vol5/pp1-10