Our statement on the ‘Illegal’ Migration Act
Today, the ‘Illegal’ Migration Act received Royal Assent, and is therefore now law in the UK. We have faced a barrage of immigration legislation over the last few years that have taken us further and further away from the world Young Roots wants to see: “A world where all young refugees and asylum seekers realise their rights and fulfil their potential”. This new Act, however, is on a new level altogether.
It is a dismantling of the principles and processes of protection and is in effect an asylum ban for almost all people who arrive to seek safety in the UK. The Act prevents people from having their asylum claims considered if they arrive to the UK irregularly, after 20 July 2023. That is, if they don’t arrive via a ‘legal route’ … but these routes simply do not exist.
Children are not exempt from this. Those who are accepted to be under 18 years old will only be removed in “exceptional circumstances”, but they will still be prevented from entering the asylum process. The government has stated that removal to ‘safe countries’ is included in these exceptional circumstances, and, to the government, that includes Albania - even though Albania is not safe for everyone.
Under the Act, children and adults’ asylum claims will simply not be considered – they will not be granted protection, they will not be able to feel safe, and they will be unable to move on with their lives. Young people who are over 18 – or even more concerningly, those the government deems to be over 18 – will face removal from the UK (the Act makes it a duty for the Home Secretary to remove people who fall under its conditions).
It has never been easy to be a young refugee in the UK, but this Act makes it immeasurably harder. In addition to being an asylum ban – despite the right to claim asylum being a fundamental human right – the Act endangers children and young people through new rules around determining children’s ages; puts the use of asylum hotels for accommodating lone children on a firmer legal footing; and allows for the routine detention of children (which the Conservative-led government ended in 2011).
In the wake of this appalling Act, we at Young Roots will continue to provide essential support to young refugees in London, through our Casework, youthwork and youth activities. We will continue to show young refugees that we welcome them, and we are here for them.
And we are more determined than ever to use our expertise, the passion and dedication of our staff and the experience and insights of young people to bring about positive change.
If you – like us – believe that the ‘Illegal’ Migration Act does not represent who we are as a society, that young refugees deserve so much better than this, and that people deserve to have their rights protected in the conditions needed to safely rebuild their lives, please let your MP know. It is time to plan for and build for the future – a future without this Act, a future where there is hope, compassion and humanity.
Lisa Matthews
Policy and Campaigns Manager
Young Roots