General Information May 2023

Ten Reasons to Bin the ‘Illegal Migration Bill’

Theresa May: Government Migration Laws Will ‘Consign More People to Slavery’

Massive New Immigration Fee Increases - Very Bad Social Policy

Massive New Immigration Fee Increases - Very Bad Social Policy

Theresa May: Government Migration Laws Will ‘Consign More People to Slavery’

Shay Family Campaign - Seeking Safety, Looking for Justice

HO to Reintroduce Use of Reasonable Force To Remove Families With Children

British Citizenship for Children of EU Citizens Born in UK Before 2 October 2000

Tribunal Must Consider Home Office Decisions in Full

UK’s Convenient Silence on Rwanda

2022 UK Charter Deportations: A Balance Sheet

We Need More EU workers, Admits Leading Tory Brexiter

From 1685 to 2023 - A Short History of Refugees Coming to Britain

The 'Butchers Apron' ~ Aka the 'Union Jack'

Brook House Three Trial: A Major Victory For Anti-Deportation Activists

Should Refugees Claim Asylum in the First Safe Country They Reach?

Briefing: the State of the UK Asylum System

Guards at Heathrow Immigration Detention Centre Try to Quell Protest

‘Five Lives Lost Is a Tragedy. 600 a Statistic.’

Council of Europe Express Concern Over Illegal Migration Bill

Scottish Inquiry Finds Immigration Detention Centre Death Was Avoidable

Number of People Living in Modern Slavery Has Grown Since 2018

Calendar of Racism and Resistance (6 – 20 June 2023) Asylum and Migrant Rights

EU Accused of ‘Staggering Neglect’ After Just 271 Afghans Resettled Across Bloc

UK Still Receives Far, Far Fewer Asylum Claims Than Other European Countries

Importance of the Immigration Rules in Human Rights Appeals

Secret Home Office Policy to Detain People With NHS Debts At Airport Found Unlawful

Latest Policy on Reporting Conditions

Channel Migrants Tragedy: Five French Soldiers Accused Of Failing To Help

Human Trafficking -  CCRC: Modern Slavery Case Referred to Crown Court 

Judicial Bias Against Presenting Officer Amounts to an Error of Law

Why the Conservative Party is the Party of High Net Migration

50 million People Trapped In 'Modern Slavery'

Suella Braverman Fresh Claims of Ministerial Code Breaches Over Undisclosed Links to Rwanda

Resettlement Decision Made Contrary to Policy and Without Adequate Reasons

Seasonal Workers Face Ongoing Exploitation - Government Shows Little Interest In Enforcement

‘We Wanted Workers, But We Got People Instead’

High Court Considers Government Actions to Safeguard a Dual British National Abroad

STHF Children and Vulnerable Adults Do Not Always Receive Sufficient Care

New Regulations Enable Certain People Fleeing Sudan To Access Benefits

Afghan Families in Yorkshire issued With Eviction Letters From Suella Braverman

Court of Appeal Confirms Refusal of Habeas Corpus for British Citizens in Syrian Camp

New Guidance on Deprivation of British Citizenship

Civil Society Solidarity Statement on the “Illegal Migration Bill”

US President Biden’s Deadly “Asylum Ban”

More Than 71 Million People Internally Displaced Worldwide in 2022

UK Youth Mobility Visa

Take Action: Good Clothes - Fair Pay

EDM 1147: Illegal Migration Bill

Lords Will Target Four Key Themes in Plan to "Shred" Illegal Migration Bill

Manufacturing Risk: Exclusionary Effect of Positive Discretion in Family Immigration Rules

Destitute by Design: Trapped in the Immigration System

King Charles: Patron of a Disgraced Regiment

Continuing Conflicts That Create Refugees - May 2023

Home Office to Acquire Fleet of Ships to House Asylum Seekers

Government to Legalise ‘Hazardous’ Accommodation for Asylum Seekers

UK Coastguard ‘Left Channel Migrants Adrift’ in Lead-Up to Mass Drowning

Amendments to the Illegal Migration Bill Attack Basic Legal Rights nd Processes

Home Office Resume Bank Account Closures

Restrictive Parameters of Domestic Violence Provisions in Immigration Rules

Reporting Hybrid Working Patterns: New Sponsor Obligations


 Grants of Asylum/Humanitarian Protection/ Resettlement 2022

The UK offered protection (in the form of refugee status, humanitarian protection, alternative forms of leave and resettlement) to 23,841 people (including dependants) in 2022. This number was 15% higher than in 2019.

There were 74,751 asylum applications (main applicants only) in the UK in 2022, more than twice the number in 2019. This is higher than at the peak of the European Migration crisis (36,546 in year ending June 2016) and is the highest number of applications for almost 2 decades (since 2003).


Deportations 2022

In the year ending September 2022, there were 3,531 enforced returns, 51% fewer than in 2019 pre-pandemic (7,198). The vast majority of enforced returns in the year ending September 2022 were of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) and around a half (49%) were EU nationals.

Enforced returns have been declining since the peak in 2012 with the most recent decrease related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of enforced returns were very low during quarters that coincided with ‘lockdowns’ starting in late March 2020 and early January 2021 (363 and 430). Numbers have increased to over 1,000 during July to September 2022; however, this is still below the pre-pandemic levels in 2019 (which saw around 1,800 returns per quarter).

In the year ending September 2022, there were 2,958 FNOs returned from the UK, of which 58% were EU nationals (1,706). FNO returns are a subset of total returns figures and in the year ending September 2022 were a large proportion of enforced returns and 24% of enforced and voluntary returns combined.

FNO returns increased slightly following the pandemic, driven by returns of non-EU nationals (mainly Albanians). However, FNO returns for the year ending September 2022 were 42% lower than in 2019 (2,958, down from 5,128). FNO returns decreased between 2016 and 2020. During this time returns of EU nationals were almost double that of non-EU nationals, but this gap closed considerably in 2021.


Immigration Detention 2022

20,446 people entered immigration detention in 2022, 16% fewer than in 2019, prior to the pandemic.

At the end of December 2022, there were 1,159 people held in immigration detention (including those detained under immigration powers in prison). This was 29% lower than immediately prior to the COVID-19 pandemic at the end of December 2019 (1,637).

19,447 people left detention in 2022, which was 21% fewer than in 2019. 48% had been detained for 7 days or less, compared with 39% pre-pandemic in 2019. 78% of those leaving detention in 2022 were bailed. Bail was mostly granted due to an asylum (or other) application being raised.


Resettlement

Resettlement accounted for 5,792 (24%) of the people offered protection in 2022. The resettlement data here includes those who have been resettled under ‘Pathway 1’ and ‘Pathway 2’ of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, or relocated under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy. Statistics on those resettled under ‘Pathway 3’ of the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme (ACRS) will be included in future editions of ‘Immigration system statistics’ once people have been resettled via this pathway.


Burkina Faso : Men in military uniform killed dozens of people in the north-central Yatenga province, authorities said Monday, as they announced an investigation into the deaths. Survivors buried 136 bodies – including 50 women and 20 children, as well as 66 men – on Thursday.

The country's north is wracked by conflict between the army and groups of jihadist militants, one of several such wars across the Sahel. The government has armed volunteers to help it battle the insurgents. All the warring parties have increasingly targeted civilians of late, says Crisis Group expert Mathieu Pellerin, including the jihadists but also members of the security forces and volunteers. The latter abuses are causing Ouagadougou's strategy to backfire, as they deepen the population's distrust of the central state and feed the insurgencies.


Haiti:  Maria Isabel Salvador, the new UN special representative for Haiti, stressed the urgency Wednesday of stopping the country’s “vicious circle of violence”, in reference to the criminal gangs fighting for control of the capital Port-au-Prince and other cities.

She was briefing the UN Security Council two days after angry Port-au-Prince residents burned thirteen suspected gang members to death. With the police overwhelmed, says Crisis Group expert Renata Segura, citizens are increasingly organising “self-defence groups”, prompting fears of more such vigilantism.