A call to end indefinite immigration detention
Immigration detention centres are officially called Immigration Removal Centres, as their stated purpose is to hold people who the government intends to remove or deport from the UK. Around half of people held in immigration detention are asylum seekers, and many have family ties in the UK. Around 25,000 migrants are detained in the UK every year.
There are, at present, ten detention Immigration Removal Centres in the UK. These are run by private security companies and run by the Prison Service. People in detention cannot leave and have very limited freedom of movement within the centres. Security levels are similar to prisons.
The UK is unique within Western Europe in that there is no maximum time limit on immigration detention. It costs, on average, more than £30,000 to detain someone for a year. The longest we know someone to have been detained is nine years. There is no judicial oversight of the decision to detain. More about immigration detention is available from AVID Detention.
Act now on indefinite detention
Contact your MP
Email or write to your local MP, or book an appointment to see them at their surgery. Ask them to support an end to indefinite detention, and to take action on this issue in Parliament. You can find a sample letter to your MP below.
Please note that when you write to your MP it is essential to give your name, address in their constituency, and phone number. Otherwise, your email or letter will not be prioritised for a reply.
Volunteer with a local visitors group
Local visitors groups support people in immigration detention around the UK. For the full list of visitor groups and their contact details if you are interested in being a volunteer, visit the Association of Visitors to Immigration Detention website 0207 281 0533
Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group
Supporting people detained in Brook House and Tinsley House by Gatwick Airport
Samphire
Supporting and advocating for people across the UK who have been released from detention
Invite
If you are based in Sussex or Surrey, invite GDWG to give a talk at a local community group, school or place of worship.
If you want to give your own talk about Indefinite Detention or your experience with the Refugee Tales, there are resources available on the GDWG website – and feel free to contact GDWG on info@gdwg.org.uk if you want any advice or support around preparing or delivering a talk.
There is more information on the statistics of detention from The Migration Observatory at Oxford University here and you could search online for “immigration statistics uk home office” for the latest UK Government data.