Opposing the New Plan for Immigration
The Government has recently released their proposed plans for immigration. It aims at criminalising people seeking asylum, discriminates against people on the grounds of their route to the country and breaks international human rights law in the process. We fundamentally oppose this Immigration Plan. What follows is a template for answering the government consultation.
The Government’s policy-making on immigration perpetuates and sustains a highly racist system, which abuses the human rights of people seeking asylum. It is rooted in a system of incarceration, disproportionately impacting black and brown communities. It builds on a history of exclusionary borders, which gives the elite in our country the discretionary powers to select the citizenship of Britain. It pushes us toward a future of aggressive surveillance policing, where people seeking asylum are forced to live in fear and hiding after fleeing persecution.
The so-called Consultation that has been put forward by the Government fails to function as a genuine request for public opinion. It is misleading, biased and highly selective. It alienates those who have experience of the policies discussed in the policy paper through confusing, and deliberately elaborate questions and a lack of translation. Nearly 200 organisations have argued that this consultation is ‘a sham’, suggesting it is ‘vague, unworkable, cruel and potentially unlawful’. We agree with this- the Consultation is poorly written, fails to effectively ascertain public opinion and aims to mislead people answering it.
Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/30/sham-200-groups-criticise-uk-government-consultation-on-refugee-policy?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
Whilst we believe it to be unlawful and highly misleading, we have attempted to write a template for the Consultation which shows how we would respond. We stand in solidarity, love and rage with those who will be affected by this proposal and we are looking to work in collaboration with other groups to oppose the contents of it.
If anyone is keen to collaborate or connect around these issues, please get in touch at action@nobordersmcr.com
The document that follows functions as a template. It should be treated as a guide, rather than a conclusive document on the only way to answer this consultation. This just shows how we as a collective would answer the questions, but there are definitely other ways to express opposition through this Consultation. We have provided an explanation for our answer for you to read and digest, and figure out which answers will best reflect your thinking. Please feel free to add to the text boxes your own thoughts, experiences and feelings about the contents of this proposal.
Link to the New Plan for Immigration: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/new-plan-for-immigration
Link to the template: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b8bIe9ynCipAhCgSYq7o_Ta8pkaR-E1jIb195cy4phs/edit?usp=sharing
Links to other resources:
https://www.freemovement.org.uk/a-first-look-at-the-new-plan-for-immigration/
https://asylummatters.org/2021/04/23/the-new-plan-for-immigration-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/
