Tag: hostile environment

Long Read: How Hostile Environment Confusion Is Continuing to Damage Asylum Seekers’ Health

Despite the formal suspension of data-sharing practices between NHS Digital and the Home Office in the wake of the Windrush scandal, the policy has left behind a legacy which continues to create confusion among medical practitioners while putting up barriers for people fleeing danger.
Hostile Environment: Maya Goodfellow on Race and Migration
James Butler is joined by Maya Goodfellow to discuss the history and politics of migration in the UK.
British Solidarity With Rojava Must Start at Home, With an End to the Hostile Environment
European states won't challenge Erdogan's attack on Rojava because of the power Turkey has as the EU's south-eastern border wall. To show solidarity with the Kurdish-led democracy revolution, we need to challenge the hostile environment at home, argues Fanny Malinen.
Two Years On, NHS Hospitals Are Still Demanding Some Patients Pay Upfront for Life Saving Treatment
Hostile environment policies have been widely condemned as racist and brutal, with the upfront charging of migrants - including people with cancer and pregnant women - at NHS hospitals considered one of the gravest injustices of all. Yet two years after the policy was introduced, and despite the Windrush scandal, vulnerable people are still dying after having been denied life saving treatment, writes medical student Izzi Whelan.
“We Refuse to Be Intimidated by Our University”: the King’s College Activists Fighting Back Against Racial Profiling
Earlier this month, King's College London was accused of banning a number of student activists from campus for posing a “security risk” during a visit from the Queen and Duchess of Cambridge. Writing anonymously, some of the students in question argue that what happened to them is part of a far bigger picture.
A Day in the Life of a Marxist Immigration Barrister

An anonymous immigration barrister describes a typical day at work, the uphill battle of dismantling the British imperial border and why theirs is a job that really shouldn’t exist.

Under the UK’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy, Shamima Begum Was Never Presumed Innocent
On Tuesday Sajid Javid announced Shamima Begum - a schoolgirl who left the UK to join the Islamic State in 2015 - would have her British citizenship revoked. Begum's case shows how the UK's counter-terrorism strategy is grounded in the preemptive denial of innocence and belonging, argues A. Haziz-Ginsberg.
15 Things the Stansted 15 Did Right
On 6 February, the Stansted 15 - a group of activists who stopped a deportation flight - were sentenced after being found guilty of terror-related offences. In the face of a judge who wanted to find them guilty from the moment they stepped into court, avoiding imprisonment was a real achievement. Here are 15 things the Stansted 15 did right.
Stansted 15: Activists Who Stopped Deportation Charter Flight Convicted of Terror-Related Charges
In an exclusive interview with Novara Media, activists who took direct action to prevent 60 people being deported to Nigeria and Ghana speak out about why they stopped the plane and what it was like to spend nine weeks on trial charged with an offence created in the aftermath of the Lockerbie bombing.
The NHS Should Be for Everyone – And That Includes Migrants
On the 70th birthday of the NHS, Dr Joanna Dobbin argues the government’s quiet scrapping of visa restrictions for overseas doctors while denying free healthcare to patients from abroad shows how our health service is only international when it suits the Home Office.
Lights in the Distance: Migration in Europe
On #NovaraFM, James Butler talks to Daniel Trilling and Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi on migration to Europe, the politics of cross-border movement, the experiences of people who make the crossing and what drives them.
Doctors Send Spoof ‘Go Home’ Van Around Westminster to Protest the Hostile Environment
Doctors, nurses and midwives gathered outside the home office to demonstrate against the Tories’ attempts to force NHS workers to carry out immigration enforcement duties, as part of an action by charity Doctors of the World, which helps migrants denied access to healthcare.
Can Javid Stop the Ruddslide?

So last night Amber Rudd sensationally resigned from her role as Home Secretary after it became clear that her sustained stay in office was untenable. Can Sajid Javid save the day?
These Five Victories in the Fight for Migrants’ Rights Show We Can Win
The government backtracked on its demand that schools collect data on pupils’ nationality and country of birth this month, presenting a sudden and startling victory to campaigners opposing the hostile environment. Here are five other key wins in the fight for migrants’ rights in Britain.
What Is the Hostile Environment?

British children sleeping on night buses or in storage units, torture survivors required to pay upfront for medical treatment, these are just some of the consequences of Theresa May’s ‘hostile environment’. In this explainer video; Migrants Rights Specialist Rockhaya Sylla unpacks some of the origins and repercussions of this harmful set of policies.

Domestic Violence or Deportation? The Migrant Women Forced to Choose
Many migrants don’t have an automatic right to the protections and spaces most in the UK take for granted. For thousands of migrant women who experience domestic violence every year, it can often come down to a difficult choice - stay in an abusive relationship, or risk being reported to the Home Office.
Can America’s Sanctuary City Model Work in the UK? A North London Borough is About to Find Out
Inspired by the sanctuary cities that refuse to enforce Trump’s racist immigration laws in the US, residents in north London are lobbying their council to defy and oppose Theresa May’s hostile environment policies and make their borough safe for migrants.
Cold Comfort: How the ‘Hostile Environment’ Reinforces Violence Against Women
The government's 'hostile environment' policy forces health sector workers to act as Home Office informants. As a result, many migrant women are being kept in abusive relationships and denied access to safe abortion services.