Dear IRR News subscriber,
The Immigration Act 2016, which received royal assent on 12 May, is the latest part of the government’s drive to create a hostile environment for irregular migrants and ‘refused’ asylum seekers. And on IRR News this week, Baljeet Sandhu and Jennifer Ang discuss how this legislation will exclude ‘young undocumented care leavers from the full range of support offered under the care leaver provisions of the Children Acts, purposefully creating a separate, lesser standard of care for undocumented children based on their migration status’. They draw attention to a conference on precarious citizenship in London on 1 June, which aims to bring together young activists, academics and practitioners to share knowledge and tactics to understand how to to advocate and organise around justice for young people with precarious citizenship.
The creation of a hostile environment, of course, is not unique to the UK. And Reem Abu-Hayyeh discusses how Denmark, too, is restricting migrants’ access to public funds (with cuts to ‘integration benefit payments’) and services, as well as demanding a whole host of new requirements for citizenship including higher language and income thresholds, along with the now infamous law allowing authorities to seize asylum seekers’ cash and valuables over the 10,000 kroner (£1,000) threshold, to pay for their support. She also interviews Reem El-Awwad of the Danish group MedMenneskeSmuglerne, about the criminal charges of ‘human trafficking’ brought against around 300 people who have acted in solidarity with refugees.
We would also like to remind you of a forthcoming event at the Institute of Race Relations: ‘The populist Right and the crisis of democracy’. This meeting – a discussion between David Edgar, Liz Fekete and Arun Kundnani – will analyse conservatism and the rise of the populist Right in the US and Europe. The event, on 6 June, is free, but booking is essential. To book, email: events@irr.org.uk.
After the popularity of our ‘book giveaway’ last month, we are having a second event giving away surplus duplicated material including Race & Class and CARF. The event will be on Thursday 16 June, 2-7pm.
And finally, our regular calendar of racism, resistance and social justice, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe, can be viewed here.
IRR News team