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loucalvey.bsky.social
Director @asylummatters.bsky.social - Asylum Rights Campaigning. Migrant & Human Rights advocacy. She/Her šŸ³ā€šŸŒˆ šŸ§”
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New migration statistics out today show a 4000% rise in asylum refusals for Afghans from Qtr4 ā€˜23 compared to Qtr 4 ā€˜24. Have the Taliban been replaced with a feminist, human rights respecting democracy? Nope. Government are ā€˜clearing the backlogā€™ by refusing refugees status.

Welcome newcomers to the UK! Whatever your reason for coming, we're glad you're here. That's always worth saying, but today especially. The latest migration stats are out, which means a day of discussion about numbers, instead of people. We've got a few issues with thatšŸ§µ šŸ‘‡

For the avoidance of any doubt, yes, Iā€™m still on Twitter. For exactly the reasons outlined belowšŸ‘‡ Likely many will disagree. These are difficult choices. Grateful for people like Lee supporting BlueSkyā€™s respectful & thoughtful engagementā€¦

New report from Prisons Inspector on UK Short Term holding facilities in Northern France makes for shocking reading on the treatment of people held at border facilities, especially the appalling treatment of children. www.ein.org.uk/news/hmi-pri...

At least 82 people died in 2024 inc.14 children. It wasnā€™t the highest year of channel crossings but it was the most fatal. Government policies of securitisation & militarising borders is killing people. Thatā€™ll get worse following Labourā€™s Borders Bill. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

Veurika claimed asylum here, fearing removal she attempted suicide in May ā€˜24 & died by suicide in June. Around the same time the Tory government were broadcasting ā€˜promoā€™ footage of arrests for removal. This is the impact of such brutality. www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-o...

Lord Alf Dubs writes on the formation of the Refugee Convention & the refugee rights it sought to enshrine. Only now to have successive governments roll back these rights & effectively disapply them. archive.ph/2025.02.18-0...

Mehrab Omrani lay dead for up to 4 months in his ClearSprings asylum accommodation before anyone thought to check on him. He hadnā€™t been seen since he was first moved in. Government pay these private companies a fortune to treat people worse than cattle. hyphenonline.com/2025/02/17/m...

One day two headlines from The Telegraph; one suggesting U.K. Nationals should be granted asylum in the States, another targeting, and naming, a judge who ruled a Palestinian family escaping Hell on Earth should be permitted a visa for safe travel. Itā€™s become a Far Right Beano

So government are unhappy with a Palestinian family accessing a visa scheme set up for Ukrainians. The question we should be asking is why they set up a bespoke scheme for one single Nationality & left everyone else, including Palestinians & Sudanese, to people smugglers?

Privileged to be quoted alongside @loucalvey.bsky.social and @zoejardiniere.bsky.social in this piece. Labour's policies on immigration raids and detention are counterproductive, harmful, and devastating. They will only fuel exploitation, rather than combat it. www.bigissue.com/news/illegal...

Nice to see a full House of Commons for the second reading of the Border Security, Immigration & Asylum Bill. Or the ā€˜Border Security & oops we forgot about asylum Billā€™ as I call it, no asylum policy, no asylum plan.

Not enough refugees are permitted safe access so traffickers & exploiters target them. Instead of fixing that government are maintaining the ban on people whoā€™ve been criminally exploited from accessing slavery support, putting them in restraints & chucking them to the wolves.

Despite huge public support the U.K. government continue to trap refugees in worklessness. Force people into years of worklessness & then wonder why you have a ā€˜move onā€™ problem. Moan about cost to the tax payer yet refuse to let people pay tax. #LiftTheBan

Be prepared for zero change when the government enact their new Borders Bill. Having had a proper read thereā€™s literally nothing in it other than removing the worst excesses of Tory policy; Rwanda & the asylum ban. Thereā€™s no actual asylum & migration policy at the heart of it.

The Borders Bill presented today includes repealing the Safety of Rwanda Act & Iā€™ll bet that generates more debate, analysis & scrutiny than Labour retaining powers to keep children in Immigration Detention.

Buckle upā€¦ Borders Bill up in the Commons today.

How do you defeat a party with no vision for Wales, and no respect for Welsh voters? Not by dressing up as them - but by embracing Wales' proud tradition of providing croeso (welcome) to those in need of sanctuary. āœļø @nbphillips1872.bsky.social in @nation.cymru

Hope combines legal advice with housing for people in the West Midlands made homeless by the asylum system. We are looking for a trustee with lived experience of the asylum system. Could this be you or someone you know? reachvolunteering.org.uk/opp/trustee-...

ā€˜Angela Rayner pushes for councils to control asylum seeker housingā€™ Or even abolish asylum support & accommodation entirely. Stop segregating people & build integrated support offers for all who need it. With well funded LAā€™s & better mainstream benefits archive.ph/2025.01.14-0...

Todayā€™s update on safe routes. 18 hours they were trapped in a lorry. The lack of safe access drives irregular migration, by small boat, HGV & train. If they really wanted to ā€˜smash the gangsā€™ theyā€™d simply put them out of business. www.bbc.com/news/article...

The brass neck of all these Tory MPs suddenly mobilised by child safeguarding. They decimated social care, crushed all LA and community based support infrastructure. And Jenrickā€¦ he dumped lone children in hotels for them to be taken. Heā€™s a one man safeguarding nightmare.

ā€˜South Manchester mosque stunned by generous volunteer drive to help refugees.ā€™ In worrying times a good reminder that while our media & social media are obsessed with Farage, Yaxley Lennon & Space Daddy, ordinary folk are so much wiser & kinder. www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/news/0201202...

ā€˜Musk says Farage 'doesn't have what it takes' to be Reform UK leaderā€™ Hahahahahaha. Space Daddyā€™s not happy. A helpful reminder in dark times; those without morals & ethics may band together from time to time but they will ALWAYS eat themselves alive. t.co/SFffXP7ROY

Key basis for Telegraph piece is a policy - based on health service experience- which prioritises extremely vulnerable people. It does *not* prioritise asylum-seekers, refugees let alone legal migrants. 1/

The Telegraph doing the job of Far Right anti Migrant propaganda. Migrants face significantly worse health outcomes than people born here, so The T attacks services established to address that and frames as ā€˜prioritisingā€™ the NHS against U.K. born people. Utterly foul.

Anyone interviewing a government spokesperson please ask them why their border policy is killing people at a record breaking rate? ā€˜Smash the gangsā€™ is rebranded ā€˜stop the boatsā€™. When are they going to have a fundamental rethink & how many need to die before that happens?

Government will ā€˜stop at nothing to dismantle people smugglingā€™, apart from build safe passage for people & reform visa access. More performative sorrow. If they wanted to stop people dying they could. Itā€™s a choice they make to enable smuggling to thrive. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Children aged 9 & 6 separated from their parents in a small boat. Their mum fell overboard & their dad jumped into save her. Imagine how terrified they were. Government have refused parents access to the U.K. to reunify with their kids. t.co/giUceXk2X1

At least 270 people have died in UK awaiting asylum application decisions since 2015ā€™. And more people killed at our border this year than the previous four combined. Hostile border policies killing people refused safe routes. news.sky.com/story/at-lea...

ā€˜About 1 million people in UK yet to obtain eVisa days before deadlineā€™ ā€¦ A Windrush Mark ll in the making. The Hostile environment continues its construction & destruction of lives. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...