📆 Join us in London/ online next Tuesday to hear from people at the forefront of the fight against the criminalisation of migration and solidarity! With Seán Binder, @captainsupportuk.bsky.social, @vickytaylor.bsky.social and @hallamtuck.bsky.social.
Sign up ➡️ www.law.ox.ac.uk/content/even...
🚨 Event alert!
Our network member @vickytaylor.bsky.social is speaking in London on Tuesday, 9th of December alongside a fantastic lineup of panelists on irregular migration responses.
Booking required! Find more information here:
rli.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
From today, new immigration offences give the UK government even more power to criminalise and imprison people crossing the Channel in dinghies. Read an overview of the changes from @vickytaylor.bsky.social ⤵️
blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/border-crimi...
✨What does hope have to do with researching hostile border policies?✨
Dr Nomfundo Ramalekana, Monique Failla, @juliawinkler.bsky.social & Ibrahim Ince share thoughts at our annual workshop @cambridgelaw.bsky.social @andrianifili.bsky.social @mfbosworth.bsky.social @smilivojevic.bsky.social 👇
Great article from @vickytaylor in @opendemocracy on Labour's new one in one our policy: "Labour has done what they said they wouldn’t – introduce performative gimmicks to convince voters they’re in ‘control’ of migration." www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-tr...
Thanks Lucy! Appreicate the share
Don’t be fooled by Labour’s show of providing safe migration routes. It’s justifying a cruel trade in people.
✍️ @vickytaylor.bsky.social
www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-tr...
@vickytaylor.bsky.social on the continuity of cruelty in the UK/France deal and the lack of evidence about deterrence. Of interest to @bordercrim.bsky.social folks too: www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-tr...
Our new report (led by @vickytaylor.bsky.social) provides a critical update on the UK government’s continued prosecution and imprisonment of people seeking safety—including refugees, trafficking survivors, and children—simply for arriving by ‘small boat’: www.law.ox.ac.uk/content/news...
Check out this updated reported by a team of committed colleagues including our very own DPhil student @vickytaylor.bsky.social
report to be published ....
The Government’s proposed Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill intends to introduce further criminal offences, justified as necessary to ‘smash the gangs’.
Given that existing offences are used to target people seeking safety, we believe that the new offences will be used in the same way.
There is no evidence, from the UK or other jurisdiction, that prison sentences for ‘illegal arrival’ deter people from making irregular journeys to seek asylum.
@humansforrights.bsky.social has identified 29 children prosecuted for 'illegal arrival', mostly for steering dinghies since June 2022. They are frequently imprisoned as adults, in adult prison.
17 of the 29 have now had their ages accepted as children. Others continue to dispute their age.
Prosecuting asylum seekers for 'illegal arrival' breaches international law, and causes significant harm to people seeking safety in the UK.
Art 31 of the Refugee Convention should protect people from prosecution for how they arrive to a country to seek safety.
The CPS ignores its duties.
Overall, from the introduction of the NABA 2022 offences on 28th June 2022 until the end of 2024, the best available data suggests that 556 people were charged with ‘illegal arrival’ having arrived on ‘small boats’, and 455 convicted.
The research is based on casework by Humans for Rights Network, Captain Support UK and Refugee Legal Support; as well as court observations; data analysis of original FOI requests; and interviews with 8 people who have been imprisoned for ‘illegal arrival’ to the UK.
Latest research in @theguardian.com with @humansforrights.bsky.social & @reflegalsupport.bsky.social
We document how ppl arriving on 'small boats', including asylum seekers, victims of trafficking & children are prosecuted for 'illegal arrival'
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Border Criminologies ( @vickytaylor.bsky.social ) and @humansfordogs.bsky.social have submitted joint written evidence to the UK’s Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill, addressing the new and expanded criminal offences in the proposed legislation: bills.parliament.uk/publications...
Electronic Immigration Network (@ein-website.bsky.social) features the joint briefing on the UK government's new Border Security Bill by Border Criminologies (@vickytaylor.bsky.social) and @humansforrights.bsky.social in their latest article. Read more here: www.ein.org.uk/news/border-...
In response to the Border Security, Asylum & Immigration Bill introduced by the UK government on 30 Jan, Border Criminologies (@vickytaylor.bsky.social) and @humansforrights.bsky.social issued a briefing on the criminalisation provisions related to irregular arrival: www.law.ox.ac.uk/content/news...
This is not only morally reprehensible, but a breach of the UN Refugee Convention.
No refugee should be discriminated against on the basis of how they entered the country
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
⚡ The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill has its Second Reading in the @houseofcommons.parliament.uk today. Read our detailed briefing 👇
ilpa.org.uk/wp-content/u...
The new ‘Border Security Bill’ heralds the legal & political end to the UK/Rwanda migration deal but life at the border, whether in the English Channel or in Kivu, remains securitized. My latest for @bordercrim.bsky.social
buff.ly/4i0arzd
@vickytaylor.bsky.social @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social
In response to the UK government's new Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill, @vickytaylor.bsky.social and Catriona Götz have written this blog post analysing the implications of this bill and how it may further criminalise people on the move: blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/border-crimi...
We argue that the proposed new offences will imprison more people trying to seek safety and a better life in the UK
This is already happening - over 550 people have been imprisoned 2022-24 for crossing the Channel.
@captainsupportuk.bsky.social works in solidarity with them.
Excellent and timely article from @vickytaylor.bsky.social on how previous measures have criminalised people seeking to come to the UK and not smuggling gangs. The new Border Security Bill has the potential to only make that situation worse, while doing nothing to reduce dangerous journeys.
The Border Security Bill seeks to further criminalise people seeking safety in the UK
Read about the current situation where people are imprisoned for crossing the Channel, & concerns about the new Bill here: blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/border-crimi...
@bordercrim.bsky.social @captainsupportuk.bsky.social
Section 59 of the IMA is also retained, which is definitely problematic. S59 makes any asylum or human rights claim made by a national of a "safe state" automatically inadmissible. Those states are listed and notably includes Albania. India and Georgia have since been added.
It's also worth being clear on what bits of the IMA are retained. Section 12 of the IMA is not being repealed. That significantly reduced judicial oversight over immigration detention by giving the Home Secretary the ability to decide what a reasonable period of detention is, rather than the courts
