Ten students arrested in anti-terror raids in April face continued immigration detention and deportation despite the lack of evidence against them. In a pattern which is becoming increasingly familiar, a high-profile operation by anti-terrorism police amid rumours of imminent atrocities ended with no charges, but with the men turned over to immigration officials for deportation.
Theme: Health
Rulings in age assessment cases
In two recent cases, the courts have returned to the controversial issue of how the Home Office and local authorities assess the age of asylum seekers who claim to be children. On 6 May 2009, Justice Keith ruled unlawful a Home Office decision that a young Chinese asylum seeker was over 18 which led to
Academics refuse to police immigration
IRR News reproduces a collective letter by academics who ‘decry the insidious way in which [they] are being used to monitor foreign students and staff’.[1] ‘We are among the growing number of academics across the UK voicing our concern about being drawn into playing a key role in an ever-tightening system of immigration control. Many
New campaign by PCS union
Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) have launched a campaign to prohibit the employment of members of racist organisations within the Home Office and UK Border Agency. PCS’s members believe that it is unacceptable for members of racist organisations to implement asylum and immigration policy, as their political beliefs are incompatible with
New project to end immigration detention of children
A new project has been launched to end the detention of children and their families for immigration purposes. The Children’s Society and Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) are working in partnership on the End Immigration Detention of Children and their Families (EIDOC) project, which seeks to provide advice and support to asylum-seeking children and young
Remembering Kelso Cochrane
Next weekend, a series of events will take place in west London to remember Kelso Cochrane, one of the first recorded victims of racially motivated murder in the UK. Fifty years ago on 17 May 1959, Kelso Cochrane, an immigrant from Antigua, was murdered in Notting Hill by a gang of White men as he
‘Our parents did not come to this country to bury their children’
Below we reproduce a statement from the brother and sister of Habib ‘Paps’ Ullah, who died after being arrested by police in High Wycombe on 3 July 2008. ‘It has now been almost nine months since Habib/Paps, our brother died in High Wycombe whilst being arrested during a routine drugs search. No one knows what
David Oluwale – 40 years on
This week marks the fortieth anniversary of the death of David Oluwale at the hands of police officers in Leeds. Forty years ago, the body of David Oluwale was pulled from the River Aire in Leeds on 4 May 1969, after a sustained campaign by two police officers, who were convicted two years later for
Waking nightmares: arrest and detention of children
A new report by the Children’s Commissioner reveals the impact of immigration detention on children and calls for its abolition. To come out of sleep to loud knocking and shouted orders, to open your eyes to uniformed strangers milling about in your home, sometimes pulling you by the arm or pushing you onto the floor,
Is the writing on the wall? (Not if the police have their way)
A report on a recent incident in Birmingham where a ‘Free Gaza’ mural was removed by the council at the request of the police. A pithy phrase, an insult, wry political commentary and, just sometimes, real art appear on public display almost as a matter of course on the walls of any urbanised society. The