An investigation conducted by VICE World News has revealed that British MPs have used a UK immigration hotline to report violations 151 times during the coronavirus pandemic. The investigation has raised questions over whether MPs are reporting their own constituents. VICE World News uncovered the data from a freedom of information request.
The figures have sparked fears that MPs are sharing information about their constituents who have sought help over their UK immigration status. Charities have warned that vulnerable constituents may avoid seeking help for fear of being detained.
UK immigration issues are featured on parliament’s website as something that constituents can confide in MPs about. However, the Home Office has a dedicated website page and phone number where ‘immigration tip-offs’ can be made.
The Quietus
, January 20th, 2021 10:24
The ending of visa-free travel for artists threatens the livelihoods of many musicians, especially in the underground. Yet while fighting for change to these Brexit rules, we must consider the wider implications for those beyond the EU, and how attitudes to migration reflect Britain s colonial history, argue Fielding Hope, Mariam Rezaei and Stewart Smith
The recent rejection of a visa-free work permit for touring UK-based artists and industry professionals in Europe, either by the hand of the UK government, or by the EU (depending on which account you trust), is a significant blow to countless workers, many of whom are already facing challenging times under the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of Brexit and inadequate government support for arts organisations is not the entire picture, however, and neither should we only consider UK or even EU-based artists and music biz workers when thinking about how art and people move across borders.
UK government accelerates “hostile environment” against immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers
The Conservative government’s “hostile environment” policy for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers went into overdrive in the run up to Britain leaving the European union (EU) on December 31. Millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money was authorized to enforce deportations of asylum seekers before the end of the Brexit transition period.
According to research based on freedom of information requests conducted by the
Independent, “£2.3m was spent on forcibly removing 225 people to European countries in July, August and September this year double the amount spent on deportation flights in the previous quarter, when 285 people were removed. Some deportation charter flights carried “only a few people onboard.”
Former Tory immigration minister slams brutal Home Office morningstaronline.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from morningstaronline.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
More than 100 public figures in Britain, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the acclaimed poet Benjamin Zephaniah, have signed a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel demanding that the deportation of 22-year-old Jamaican Osime Brown be rescinded.
Brown, who has autism, was convicted of a theft while still in his teens and sentenced to five years in prison.
Under current UK legislation, any foreign national sentenced to more than a year is liable to automatic deportation. But Brown, who left Jamaica as a young child, has no relatives in the island and would be extremely vulnerable.
“He even asked ‘what bus can I take to visit you from Jamaica?’,” his mother Joan Martin told