How the UK immigration system hurts people: August 2021
This month’s recap features the Jamaica 50 deportation and redirecting calls to a Afghan crisis helpline to a washing machine company.
11 min readAug 31, 2021
About my monthly recaps
I’m spending 2021 doing a monthly running challenge to fundraise for the Join Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI).
Read my blog post about why I’m fundraising for JCWI
As part of the fundraiser, I will be writing a monthly blog post on:
- how the monthly running challenge went (on my running blog)
- what happened in the world of UK immigration and asylum in the past month (here on Medium)
Past recaps
Now let’s get to August 2021.
Keeping asylum seekers in limbo for over a decade
Detaining European citizens who applied for settled status
Deporting Jamaican nationals who have lived in the UK since childhood
Creating unnecessary immigration admin and fees in the entertainment sector
Refusing someone’s leave to remain because their British child died and therefore had no family here
Not creating safe routes to the UK, leading to 10,000 migrants crossing the channel
Making a detainee feel like they have to face deportation because they can’t afford the legal fees to fight it
Telling British nationals to return from Afghanistan but saying it’s okay to return unaccompanied Afghan children
Enabling 70 racist incidents against asylum seekers by far-right groups
Making Hongkongers face obstacles to starting life in the UK because service providers don’t understand what their visa entitles them to
Making undocumented people terrified to seek support
Trying to deport someone with a right to British citizenship
Making people attempt suicide because of fear of deportation
Tearing a family apart after denying a mum and her daughter visas
Saying it is not ‘unduly harsh’ to deport a father who has been in the UK for over 20 years
Ripping apart families through Jamaica deportation flight
Planning to deport a dad of 4 who arrived in the UK aged 10
Going ahead with Jamaica deportation flight with fewer than 10 on board
Putting asylum seekers at risk by housing in barracks where another Covid outbreak has happened
Creating the conditions leading to a person dying trying to reach the UK
Moving suspected modern slavery victims to prison
Deporting someone who came to the UK aged 7 for overstaying their visa
Not granting visas to Afghan scholars due to ‘administration issues’ (before U-turning on that decision)
Spending an estimated £13,300 for each person deported, up 200% in the last 4 years
Being reluctant to give people fleeing Afghanistan asylum because of the message it will send to other asylum seekers
Deleting guidance for Afghan asylum cases claiming there’s no risk of harm to the population
Refusing the visa of an Afghan who guarded the UK embassy…
…and doing the same for other embassy workers, too
Only agreeing to take in 20,000 Afghan refugees over 5 years…
…and that most people fleeing the Taliban would not be able to access
Not moving Covid-positive detainees out of a removal centre because there’s a lack of space
Going to extreme lengths to return Afghan asylum seekers over the past 20 years
Trying to deport an Afghan asylum seeker whose family was murdered by the Taliban and has lived in the UK for 12 years
Potentially punishing Afghan asylum seekers who arrive in the UK without entry clearance if new UK asylum laws are passed
Making EU citizens want to leave the UK because of Brexit
Keeping Afghan child refugees in hotels for weeks without shoes, spare clothes or access to healthcare
Crippling a nurse with over £15,000 in visa fees
Trying to deport someone born and raised in the UK
Putting vulnerable EU citizens at risk of deportation
Leaving 3,000 Afghan asylum seekers in limbo by not deciding on their applications
Having a long history of treating Afghan refugees poorly
Making it difficult for Brits with foreign spouses in the EU to return to the UK
Making Afghan refugees likely to face issues securing suitable housing in the UK
Deporting a father-to-be who has been in the UK since age 8
Making Afghan refugees wait more than a year and a half in a refugee camp despite being told they could resettle in the UK
Housing child asylum seekers in unsuitable hotels
Deporting people who end up homeless
Redirecting calls to Afghan crisis helpline to a washing machine company…
…and refusing to apologise for it
Giving lower priority to evacuating dual over single national UK-Afghans…
…making them feel hopeless and abandoned
Continuing to house migrants at military barracks despite court ruling that called them unsafe
Placing Afghan asylum seekers whose claims have been refused in fear they will be deported back
Deporting someone who has been in the UK since age 9 for a crime he spent 11 months in jail for 11 years ago
Returning 13 and refusing asylum to 400 Afghan nationals in the past year
Telling Afghans to wait for safe routes to come to the UK but failing to outline a plan for these routes
Inflicting pointless suffering by releasing 77% of immigration detainees back into the UK
Creating life-changing consequences for EU citizens post-Settlement Scheme application deadline — including refusing the application of children whose parents were accepted
Seizing the phones of more than 7,000 migrants without a policy in place to do so
Blocking decisions on Afghan protection claims
Halting assessing asylum claims to try to deport asylum seekers to the EU instead — despite no deal being in place
Telling Afghan interpreters who worked for the British army that they’re a danger to national security and not allowed in the UK
Angry? Disgusted? Ashamed? Then donate
If you are in any way appalled at what you just read happens in a single month in the world of UK immigration, please consider donating to my fundraiser for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.
They’re doing the important work to both help those affected by the system, and help end the abuses of the system.
