Thread by @UnisNotBorders

From yesterday's @ObserverUK. @UnisNotBorders was cited in this piece about, Sulav Khadka, a migrant student from Nepal who was detained by UK border cops, claiming that he was a bogus student, sent to a detention centre in Scotland, & held for 10 days: theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/n…
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.@UnisNotBorders stated in the piece that in the 6 years we have provided support for migrant university staff & students, we have come across cases, esp from migrant students who come from the Global South & subjected to harsh immigration questioning by UK border cops.

The piece goes on further to state from another student interrogated by UK border cops that they saw some Pakistani students who "were kept in a separate place for not being able to show [their] bank balance in a mobile app. God knows what happened to them."

The piece goes on to indicate that the university that Sulav Khadka was to enroll at, @YorkStJohn, refused to enroll him claiming that he had missed the 24 October deadline to enroll. As a result, his sponsorship was withdrawn, leaving him in a immigration + financial limbo.

Shamefully, @YorkStJohn did not even factor the immigration fiasco that Sulav Khadka was put in as a direct result of UK's draconian border regime that prevented him from enrolling before the deadline. Rather, the university also weaponised his precarious status against him.

What @ukhomeoffice & @YorkStJohn have done to Sulav Khadka is just a few elements of many of how the #HostileEnvironment policy is used to create barriers for all kinds of migrants in the UK. Now he'll return to Nepal in debt after borrowing ££, with no degree.

Academics on Twitter outraged about Sulav Khadka's case, but we think this outrage can be channelled better. Firstly, what Sulav Khadka experienced was also experienced by many other migrant students during the pandemic. We are referring to this: redpepper.org.uk/locked-out-dur…

At the time when migrant students were being forcibly withdrawn from their universities during a pandemic, for not being able to pay their tuition fees on time, we didn't see much outrage over this manner. Many of these students, like Sulav Khadka, went into debt, with no degree.

Secondly, as @UnisNotBorders has warned many times before, the increase digitalisation & use of AI & other software makes it easier to implement border violence & exclude migrants, such as for not having a mobile banking app or able to show electronic documentation.

Thirdly, if you saw our tweets yesterday re- the use of 'bogus migrant student' used by right-wing pundits & those in the Labour & Conservative parties [

https://twitter.com/UnisNotBorders/status/1596559089915801600

] you'll know how this relates to how Sulav Khadka was mistreated at the border & by his university.

Furthermore, if Sunak or the rest of Conservatives, go ahead with further plans to limit migrant students from supposedly enrolling at 'low quality' degrees at largely post-92 institutions, we'll be seeing many more cases like that of Sulav Khadka in the future.

But again, the issue isn't to get outraged, but to get organised & join dots together. A #UCUstrike is happening. How many @ucu branches are engaging with their migrant students? How many of your branches have printed off our strike solidarity materials? linktr.ee/urbc

If you aren't doing those very tangible things, which also includes liaising with @UnisNotBorders & taking of our workshops, you have no right to be outraged. Also, you are part of the very problems that are harming migrant students & staff on your campuses.

If our words seem harsh, it's because @UnisNotBorders comes across these cases daily. @nusuk doesn't provide casework support for migrant students, SUs do not have adequate support structures to take on these kinds of cases & while @ucu is improving, it too has a long way to go.

Learn more about our work.

Liaise and contact us for workshops and for casework advice: unisresistbordercontrols [at] gmail [dot][ com

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