Dear Home Secretary,
The UK’s system of immigration detention is inhumane and unjust. Basic rights are being denied to thousands of people locked up every year with no due process and no limit on how long they can be held.
This cruel and inhumane treatment of people has no place in a fair and just immigration system. You must immediately take steps to end it.
The UK Home Office is locking up thousands of people as part of their nightmare system of immigration detention. People are being routinely and inhumanely held in prison-like conditions with no idea when they’ll be released. And Priti Patel’s recent proposals would only be making a terrible situation worse.
The people locked up in detention are going through the immigration system in some way. Some may have called the UK home for all, or most of their lives, as with the Windrush Generation. Many will have escaped torture, violence, war, or human trafficking.
With no proper due process, people are held in detention centres for months or even years (yes, years!) based on the decision of a Home Office official. In contrast, people can only be held by police for a maximum of 96 hours, and only then with the approval of a judge.
It’s a cruel and unjust system. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Usually people going through the immigration system live in the community or with their families.
The excuse is often that people detained are being deported, but that doesn’t explain why it’s so inhumane. And the fact is, the majority of people aren’t deported – they are released again to their families and communities but often never recovering from this traumatic experience.
Detention separates families and fractures lives. Many people live in constant fear of being detained because the system is so inhumane and cruel. It causes severe distress for those who are detained, and for their families and friends. People are trapped in a maze with seemingly random rules, which destroys any trust that they will be treated fairly.
Tried and trusted alternatives rooted in dignity and compassion already exist—the Home Office just needs to use them. Yet instead they are choosing to shut down successful alternatives and increase the use of harmful practices.
We cannot stay silent. We must raise our voices and demand justice. Join us in calling for an end to inhumane detention.