Status Now call updates Archives - Page 3 of 6

February 20, 2022March 3, 2022

Deportation in this cruel hostile environment

StatusNow4All: This cruel hostile environment has given rise to yet another Home Office plan to deport people to Zimbabwe on 2 March 2022. StatusNow4All abhors this decision made in the name of the Home Secretary, Priti Patel.

It is immoral:

These are just some of the factors of note in relation to those who are being rounded up for deportation right now:

· Some have been here a long time, as many as twenty years;

· Some will have had Refugee Leave, such was the compelling case they presented on arrival in UK, but the law allows the Home Office to strip them of this due to a conviction for particular offending behaviours [para 339 Immigration Rules].

· Deportation Orders are automatically made against people without British or Irish citizenship who have been given a prison sentence of more than a year

· Some of these people will have served their time in prison and on license like any other person with a conviction, and have subsequently lived in the community for years without re-offending

February 9, 2022February 19, 2022

What The Nationality and Borders Bill Really Means

9 February 2022: A STATUS NOW NETWORK BRIEFING

This Status Now Network briefing is from the standpoint of migrant communities across the UK who live with precarious residence status: a legacy of the hostile environment.

Why is the government proposing this bill?

This Bill is intended for purely political purposes. It amounts to an attempt to recoup ground lost to hostile environment policies through negative public perception about Government action in both the Windrush scandals and other revelations of injustice in immigration policy that have emerged in recent years.

During the Covid-19 period, as migrant people have been profiled as key workers in health and social care, transport and supply chains, providing the wider population with vital goods and services, public perception of immigration has undergone changes. The measures set out in the Borders and Nationality and Borders Bill are intended to disrupt this growing solidarity and identification with hard pressed migrant communities. It consists of talking up an existential threat via small boat arrivals and types of British citizens who are not considered worthy of that status when no threat of this nature exists. Refugee and asylum procedures for routes of entry without grave risk to life are completely achievable. Criminal law exists to address criminal activity by any British citizen without any distinctions that rely on ethnic or immigrant origin.

February 9, 2022February 19, 2022

Individual control over our own bodies is a precondition for the individual exercise of rights and responsibilities.

We don’t need a consultation. The current Human Rights Act – albeit imperfect – is based on the European Convention for Human Rights. We need to continue adhering to this, not tinker unilaterally and in the process erode rights.

There is nothing to prevent the Government from adding protective laws.
In the meantime, there is no personal responsibility – or individual rights – without everyone of us being able to exercise personal control over what happens to our own bodies and the bodies of those who we care for where no harm is done . No rights or responsibilities are meaningful without the power to exercise this most fundamental control – over our own bodies

February 8, 2022July 31, 2022

EDM #1442: Undocumented migrants and covid-19 vaccination

Early Day Motion 1442 tabled on 3 February 2021: Undocumented migrants and covid-19 vaccination

Motion text: That this House believes that access to essential healthcare is a universal human right; regrets the continued existence of structural, institutional and systemic barriers in accessing NHS care experienced by undocumented migrants and those awaiting determination of their asylum, visa and immigration applications; considers that an effective public health response to the covid-19 crisis requires that the most vulnerable can afford to access food, healthcare, and self-isolate where necessary; understands that some of the most vulnerable people in society will not access vaccination against the virus, since to disclose their identity to the authorities would risk their arrest, detention and deportation; fears that without urgent Government intervention this will lead to further avoidable premature deaths, especially in the African, Asian and Minority Ethnic population; and therefore calls on the Home Office to grant everyone currently in the UK at this time who are undocumented migrants and those awaiting determination of their asylum, visa and immigration applications indefinite leave to remain, and to be eligible in due course to receive the covid-19 vaccination.

December 24, 2021June 8, 2022

Status Now newsletter December 2021

SNN Editorial WE know that the Emperor has no clothes 2021’s end of year ‘holiday’ period has to be the strangest ever. In the UK and Ireland an unknown number of people are entering this period of the COVID19 syndemic[2] without one or more of these fundamentals: safe roofs over our heads, heat and food to warm and fuel our bodies, and internet connected devices that maintain our abilities to communicate beyond our physical placement. The Status Now Network(SNN) remains acutely conscious that – whether we do or we don’t have precarious immigration status – many people are being denied fundamental human needs. Read more: https://statusnow4all.org/statusnow-editorial-we-know-that-the-emperor-has-no-clothes/

December 24, 2021January 1, 2022

StatusNow editorial: WE know that the Emperor has no clothes

WE know that the Emperor has no clothes[1]

2021’s end of year ‘holiday’ period has to be the strangest ever. In the UK and Ireland an unknown number of people are entering this period of the COVID19 syndemic[2] without one or more of these fundamentals: safe rooves over our heads, heat and food to warm and fuel our bodies, and internet connected devices that maintain our abilities to communicate beyond our physical placement. The Status Now Network(SNN) remains acutely conscious that – whether we do or we don’t have precarious immigration status – many people are being denied fundamental human needs.

This fact, that people in the here and now are being denied access to fundamental human needs, is not new. The fact that we in SNN and so very many who are around and about us care deeply[3] about that denial, and the fact that we trust in our abilities to expose and resist all attempts to grind away, and thereby blunt, our commitment to achieve StatusNow4All: they aren’t new either.

December 18, 2021September 16, 2023

AT and WITHIN the UK’s Borders: StatusNow4All identifies with everyone in transit and everyone who has died in transit

Update 18 December 2021: See here for depth information about home office border security plan: https://corporatewatch.org/home-office-set-to-advertise-385-million-private-border-security-contracts/

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Status Now Statement: AT and WITHIN the UK’s Borders: StatusNow4All identifies with everyone in transit and everyone who has died in transit.
People have moved around the world for many reasons through time, and they still do. In their attempts to reach what they perceived to be a toehold where they and their families might begin to become safe, consider how many of these people have died because obstacles have been put in their way on land or in the water. We don’t know the numbers.

We do know that the overt and systematic militarisation of the European Union borders began in 2004 when Frontex (funded through the European Commission) were contracted.

In July 2021 a condemnation of Frontex’s actions failing to protect asylum seekers rights was published.

Now, in the wake of the most recent drownings in the English Channel, networks up and down Britain are mobilising to communicate their complete condemnation of the Government’s immigration control systems, AT and WITHIN the UK’s borders. Every time people plan and work together through such mobilisations, we strengthen the bonds committed to transforming the way the migration system works and stopping the deaths and the suffering.

December 9, 2021June 5, 2023

EDITORIAL: An exponential expansion of the number of people in the UK with precarious status: one potential implication of Clause 9 of the current Nationality and Borders Bill

9th December 2021

An exponential expansion of the number of people in the UK with precarious status: one potential implication of Clause 9 of the current Nationality and Borders Bill

‘“It’s a horrible Clause”. Frances Webber, Institute of Race Relations, London.

The idea that ‘an uncommunicated decision can bind an individual’ is ‘an astonishing proposition’^[1].

In August of this year Sky News published analysis^[2] of the last three years of ‘complete’ Home Office data relating to migration. Demonstrating that the people who arrive in the UK in small boats and who generally claim asylum are only a small fraction of the number of migrants arriving in the UK each year, it admitted that ‘These numbers are based on estimates. The real number of unauthorised people in the UK is not known as official figures cannot capture the true reality.’ Sky News then fell back onto the much-cited Pew Research figure dating from 2019 that describes there being between 0.8-1.2 million migrant people in the UK who are ‘unauthorised’^[3]. The Status Now Network favours the term ‘precarious’ to describe everyone in the UK without secure status.

On 11^th November 2021, a number of media outlets carried the Institute of Race Relations exposure^[4] of ‘the dangers posed by a clause inserted quietly into the Nationality and Borders Bill, which will allow some British citizens (mainly dual nationals) to lose their citizenship without being notified in a wide range of circumstances, which could put them at grave risk.’ As of 6^thDecember this Clause, number 9^[5], is one of several that make up an additional 88 pages of amendments that have been tabled^[6] as the Bill passes through its procedural stages.

Here, IRR’s Frances Webber explains more of the history of Clause 9:

November 29, 2021September 16, 2023

Status Now Newsletter November 2021

New Home
by Loraine Masiya Mponela

I have been exposed to the love
of strangers, seen smiles directed at me
and the smiling eyes with mouths covered
with masks.

It has been eye opening to know
that so much love exists, that a homeless girl
can share a life and be provided with a home
away from home

It has been mind blowing
and humbling to experience greatness alongside
great leaders, campaigning shoulder to shoulder

I have seen the better side of humanity
love instead of hate. It warms my heart that
humanity is in a better place
in its care for other humans.

Note: Loraine is a member of CARAG, a SNN signatory

November 10, 2021November 13, 2021

Motion for use by Trade Union bodies

This motion for use by Status Now Supporters has been produced by the reference group as a short motion to go, suitably amended, to trade union bodies, including national and regional conferences. We do need to get more trade union support in order to deliver on our core demand Status Now For All – indefinite leave to remain.

‘Conference condemns the continued political and physical attacks on refugees, asylum seekers and others without their status in the UK. Conference accepts that many people, even with the right to work, are often in precarious situations due to their immigration status. Conference reaffirms the right of all workers to employment which is safe and secure. To this end Conference supports the call made by a number of migrant bodies, anti-racist, poverty eradication groups and others that all undocumented and precarious people residing in the UK should be granted indefinite leave to remain.’

November 6, 2021November 13, 2021

Status Now leaflet: On COP 26

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6 November 2021: Status Now leaflet: On COP 26

Solutions to this global crisis must move beyond man-made political borders.

The climate and biodiversity catastrophe that continues to compel the movements of people across these borders around the world can only stop when, in their turn, the UK Government and other Western states become compelled to abandon the drive for profit which underpins their wars and their immigration and public health policies.

The Status Now Network (SNN) is comprised of people who, being without secure status, are among the most vulnerable, marginalised, and disempowered in our society, alongside indigenous people. It includes many who have been forced, directly or indirectly, to flee to the Global North because of the ecological impact of climate change and bio-diversity destruction in their homelands.

October 31, 2021November 19, 2021

30 October 2021 Status Now Network newsletter

Work with Status Now Network

The Status Now Network (SNN) is hiring a Network Development Coordinator (NDC). Application deadline is 5pm, Friday 19 November 2021.

The NDC will be central to the SNN’s work in the coming period as it makes its transition from a bottom-up alignment of concerned groups into a focused and efficient campaign body with the potential to make an impact on government policy.

The post will initially be a 3 day a week position with potential for becoming full-time in the near future. Much of the organising work will be online so location in the UK is flexible.

October 3, 2021September 16, 2023

Justice Secretary’s ‘open-mind’ suggestion needs Activation and Expansion

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3 October 2021: The flyer below was distributed outside the Conservative Party conference in Manchester by members of Status Now

2 October 2021: Justice Secretary’s ‘open-mind’ suggestion needs Activation and Expansion

The Justice Secretary’s ‘open-mind’ about allowing asylum seekers to work while their claims are being processed needs activation and expansion. Dominic Raab, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, reportedly said that allowing asylum seekers to work would assist with integration and contribute to resolving the country’s labour shortages. His remarks are supported by some senior Tories which may indicate a growing recognition that the current law, banning people who seek asylum from being contracted in paid work while they wait for a Home Office decision, is morally and practically wrong. It is irrational that we have tens of thousands of residents in this country who can contribute to alleviating the current labour crisis but are denied the right to work and forced into years of unemployment and poverty while employers are desperate to fill job vacancies.

September 10, 2021November 13, 2021

We call for an inquest into Harvey Wittika’s death

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3 September 2021: StatusNow4All: We call for an inquest into Harvey Wittika’s death

This call was made at the demonstration outside Holyrood on 2 September 2021:

The death of Harvey Wittika, aged 37, who died after falling from the second floor of his flat building in Glasgow calls for a thorough investigation.

It is reported that Wittika, a Malawian national, moved to Glasgow after the Home Office refused to renew his application to stay in the UK. At the time of his death, Wittika had lived in the UK for 16 years.

The details of his death are scanty but the British Government’s ‘hostile environment’ has to be in this frame: we suspect an act of suicide that was caused by his suffering at the hands of the government department in charge of immigration control – the Home Office.

September 9, 2021November 13, 2021

There’s No Turning Back

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9 September 2021: Solidarity in action – is the solution to dissolve the racist xenophobia[1] underpinning all, including the latest, refugee-rejection manoeuvre by the UK Government[2]: this time declaring that they will command workers to turn back boats carrying refugee people; it’s always, and only, about dividing – and thereby ruling – everyone on this side of the English Channel.

Claudia Webbe MP, at the forefront of Early Day Motions[3] that call for Status Now 4 All describes this latest move as “Abhorrent”, going on to explain:

“This is yet another example of the Conservatives putting their political agenda – of the ‘hostile environment’ and stoking up division – ahead of human life and decency.