It's come to my attention again that few people have any idea what the government's "stop the boats" illegal migration bill does, so:
It ends the right to seek asylum in the UK.
No decsions. No applications will be processed. From Afghans to Albanians. Limbo forever for all.
There are infinitessimally small caveats but this is essentially the truth & the whole story.
In plain & simple terms: No one coming to us for help (or any reason) will have their claim for protection heard anymore, ever.
They'll all be detained, all be left in barges & hotels.
Actually, I shouldnt have used Albania because, exceptionally, while they'll be denied the right to apply for asylum like everyone else, Albanians specifically won't all be in limbo forever, rather illegally deported- meaning any who do need protection will be sent back to danger
But everyone else, no matter where they are coming from - Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran - will never have their claims heard and will be left in limbo, with the power to lock them in detention without access to courts, forever.
The bill ends the right to asylum.
That is why UNHCR - the guardian of the Refugee Convention - calls it a #RefugeeBanBill & says it is clearly incompatible with international law.
For good measure, it's also incompatible with Conventions on:
- Trafficking
- Statelessness
- Against Torture
- Rights of the Child
& that is why, in my Newsnight interview, I said the government has stopped doing it's job, which is to process asylum claims.
1% of claims received last year have received a decision.
But anyone who arrived since 7 March 2023 will NEVER receive one.
Textbook interview from Cleverly on how to normalise & empower the far right:
-Only problem he identifies with Farage is his plans to stop migration won’t work
-Reinforces the idea migration is bad & Farage’s aims are legit
-Says Tories are the real anti-migrant vote #r4today
Directly afterwards we hear from France where the EXACT same narrative pursued by Macron led to a far right victory in the election.
We hear the same again: we need remove migrants, more failed measures of immigration control, control Muslims, migrants are the problem🤦♀️#r4today
Europe is sick.
Some say history is cycles & I’ve never agreed.
But there’s seemingly insatiable appetite for MORE migrant hatred, MORE narratives of utterly failed “control” that causes chaos, MORE scapegoating, MORE promises that migration can or should be stopped… #r4today
Over 40 people killed at sea by the Greek coast guard.
9 of those people deliberately thrown into the sea.
There literally are no words for European (in which I absolutely include the UK) depravity in the name of border enforcement. #r4today
Literally leaving babies adrift at sea on rafts. On camera. In broad daylight.
That is “stop the boats” in action. There’s no way to push back asylum seekers that doesn’t kill.
Our borders kill every day, Greeks are just taking a bit more active involvement these days. #r4today
There is no question whatsoever that the Greek authorities deliberately kill migrants.
You can watch video of 36-year-old Greek, Antonis Karyotis, being pushed off a ferry by a Greek official who mistook him for “a black or Pakistani” & watches him drown last September. #r4today
This is only the “immigration election” because we’re all once again dancing to Farage’s tune who, unbelievably, is on one of the BBC’s flagship programmes #r4today AGAIN this morning.
To the public, it’s an election about the NHS & cost of living. For which we need immigrants.
Zero net is an insane anti-growth proposal that would see our NHS waiting lists explode, make it impossible to recruit teachers for our kids, trash our ability to build houses, and desperately damage our economy leaving us much poorer.
#r4today
Farage, again, completely comes unstuck when talking about refugees - he claims the EXACT same policies that failed for the Tories would magically work for him.
Eventually, ofc, he pivots to straight up racism. Absurd unsubstantiated claims about our Muslim communities. #r4today
Weird🤔
Because none of the 6 or 7 reports released this year by credible academics, researchers & service providers detailing horrendous exploitation, & debt bondage driven by the temporary work visa system Jenrick oversaw, seem to have been covered on #r4today🤷♀️
This @FocusOnLabour report reveals migrant farm workers are unable in practice to change employer due to visa restrictions, leaving them trapped when underpaid or not given enough work.
They can then be coerced into poor living &working conditions #r4today labourexploitation.org/publications/b…
This one from @TBIJ @CitizensAdvice reveals migrant health & social care workers suffer workplace sexual abuse & exploitation
But unable to speak for fear of losing their jobs & therefore their employer-tied visa permitting them to stay in the uk #r4today thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2024-0…
Very few asylum seekers will ever be sent there, but this morning, thousands of homeless men, women & children who came to us with nothing & asked for help but we left in limbo, have fear hanging over them of violent deportation to a dictatorship #r4today
And it’s the violence I want you to think about today.
Because there is no way to carry out the deportations Sunak is crowing about without serious violence.
People will struggle, they’ll be restrained, may attempt to self harm or kill themselves. Over & over again. #r4today
The reason he can talk about flight after flight & bragged about hundreds of agents trained to enforce removals, that’s because it takes violence.
Multiple agents per human to force them onto the plane.
Flights filled with enforcement staff & a few desperate refugees. #r4today