📢So excited to be writing this book📢
'Anywhere But Here' will tell the stories of those on the frontline of our broken asylum system, including, at its heart, small boat arrivals.
I'll also take you inside the Home Office, drawing on my time there.
Sara Mardini, whose story was told in the Netflix film 'The Swimmers', faces 20 years in prison if convicted today. She was volunteering with a search & rescue team to bring people ashore in Greece. She and her colleagues now face people smuggling charges.
Just spoke to a British national who travelled overland with his Ukrainian wife over the last two days and has just arrived back in the UK. He says a lot of Brits are refusing to leave Ukraine because they don't have faith the Home Office will allow their spouses to come over.
Chris Philp confirmed to have been "moved to another job". Home Office sources tell me he was "vile to work with" and his ambition "wreaked of desperation". Few will be sad to see him go.
After many months of digging,
@maybulman
and I can reveal not one Afghan has been brought to the UK under the ACRS, with many facing torture and death.
Meanwhile, only 5-8 staff are working on the scheme compared to 540 on Ukraine.
🚨EXCL: For over six months, I've been speaking to asylum decision-makers, including some recruited from McDonald's and Tesco. They say they're left alone to conduct complex asylum interviews within two days, then make "life and death" decisions. (Thread)
A Syrian interpreter, who translated for British government officials for five years, has just called to tell me he has attempted to take his own life after nearly two years waiting for a decision on his asylum claim.
@ukhomeoffice
- can we have an urgent response, please.
An asylum seeker is taking legal action against the
@ukhomeoffice
following the stillbirth of her baby in asylum housing. For over three hours, she sat in reception, profusely bleeding. Staff refused to call an ambulance. New from me for
@guardian
.
🚨New: For months,
@hackneylad
and I have been looking at what's going on
@ukhomeoffice
and how it became the department we see today.
My task was to speak to current staff and to get as close to Priti Patel as possible. Here's what I found out. (Thread)
A morning of wrangling with the Home Office Press Office, who made a complaint to the Guardian about the way their statement is carried in my report. We won't be issuing a correction, because there was no inaccurate or misleading information.
She is aware. FCDO and Home Office officials have prepared countless briefings for the Home Secretary on human rights abuses in Rwanda, including this incident. She has consistently disregarded advice from officials, much to their chagrin.
What an utter disgrace. Home Office says it brought these thirteen guards to the UK as "a gesture of goodwill" which has now been cancelled. They were led to believe they would be safe here, having put their lives at risk to serve the govt. Total betrayal.
Over the weekend I received a wave of threatening messages, including some which describe how they are going to sexually and physically harm me.
Working on UK immigration and asylum issues, I expect backlash from far-right groups, but this kind of abuse shouldn't be tolerated.
His wife was granted a one-year visa "in the nick of time". "I expect more from the government," he says. "We knew war was coming - it shouldn't have been so difficult to get out."
Another message from a Brit stuck in Kyiv with his wife: “No one can tell me why there has been no priority given to Ukrainian applicants. The embassy hotline keeps saying the Home Office is ‘very busy’. That’s hardly very comforting when bombs are going off nearby.”
EXCL: Analysis from Oxford University's
@MigObs
shows that 86% of Albanians who received positive asylum decisions to June were women whose leave to remain was granted on the basis they were likely to have been trafficked and in need of genuine protection.
This story is the reason I left the Home Office.
Almost ten years ago, I was sitting on the immigration desk in press office when we got word that a BBC Panorama documentary was about to air which exposed English language test cheating on a massive scale.
This Syrian man thought he was attending a routine appt, then told he would be sent to Rwanda.
"When I went to sign they told me they want to give me papers. They took me aside and after that there was a police van. They took my phone and put me in a [cell]. I'm very scared."
We speak to a Syrian man, at an immigration enforcement reporting centre in Loughborough, who tells
@darshnasoni
he was detained today and has been told he will be deported to Rwanda.
Less than two weeks after giving birth, Kemi received the first bill for her maternity care, for £4,900. Unable to pay the bill and cover rent, she was evicted and forced to sleep on the streets with her 6-wk-old baby, relying on food banks to survive.
He's now planning to get a job in manual labour but will need to ensure he meets the £18,600 requirement so his wife can remain in the UK and not be forced to return to a war zone.
Thread: Thia Malan, an NHS consultant anaesthetist who has cared for critically-ill children and babies for 20 years, was told by the Home Office her husband's visa application was rejected because he's not from a majority English-speaking country. He's South African.
David Neal, Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration tells
@CommonsHomeAffs
: "I've written to the Home Secretary... I've stopped doing that now. I got the impression she didn't want to see me."
🚨I shadowed Evans, a nurse from Ghana, during a 13-hour shift at a care home.
Without people like him, the social care system would have collapsed long ago. The Home Office's recent changes will decimate a sector already on its knees.
Sent from a British national currently trying to cross the border into Poland with his Ukrainian partner, who can't get a visa because they're not married.
10/ Within weeks, I left the civil service. How could I stay?
Since then, my focus has been on UK immigration and asylum and the impact the hostile environment has had on those who come to our shores in search of a better life. As ashamed as I am, I'm on the right side now.
Suella Braverman pointing to journalism where Albanians say they are coming here for economic reasons - predominantly men.
Not the case. 86% are women who have been trafficked, as my
@Independent
piece.
As part of an investigation into the drownings of 32 people in the Channel last year, the French authorities have disclosed their call log, which shows more than 20 distress calls were made to British and French coastguards. It took 9 hours for anyone to respond.
The transcripts:
And another Brit, who is choosing to stay in Kyiv with his wife. “We’ve got supplies in, filled the bath in case of fires, taped up the windows, got clean water in containers and non-perishable foods. We were here during the Maidan Revolution. We’re prepared for what is to come.”
Gutted to miss the British Journalism Awards this evening but, at £300 a ticket - the amount I get paid for a 1,000 word piece, reported over many months - I don't think it's fair to ask shortlisted freelancers to cover the cost themselves. Good luck to everyone attending.
Oh wow - I've made the Social Affairs Journalism shortlist for my reporting on UK immigration and asylum! So chuffed, particularly to be among some of the best reporters covering such an important range of issues in this area. 🥳
🚨EXCL: Home Office immigration enforcement officials are targeting places of worship to advise people with insecure status to return to their countries of origin.
On three occasions, officials entered religious premises to take people direct to airports.
A 69-year-old widow has been denied a visa to join her daughter, who has indefinite leave to remain, in the UK. The Home Office suggested she apply for a visitor visa or remain in France, where she doesn't speak the language and has no relatives.
The Home Office tried to kill this piece, saying we needed to disclose the
@DOTW_UK
report for them to comment. We didn't and, with thanks to Guardian editors and lawyers for backing me, we still got the voices of those at Napier out there.
🚨EXCL: There's a secret unit in the Home Office which is providing funding, equipment and training to border forces overseas to prevent migrants reaching the UK.
In Turkey, it's being used to push back migrants, incl firing live rounds at children.
A reminder: Not one Afghan has been brought to the UK under pathway 3 of ACRS.
Ministers are STILL saying they "look forward to welcoming the first arrivals to the UK".
The 1000 allocated places; the 22 figure; the 4 figure from last yr - they're all red herrings.
Just heard from a woman in asylum housing. At 32 weeks pregnant, she began feeling unusual pains. She asked the housing manager to call an ambulance, not sure what was wrong. He refused. For three hours, she pleaded with him, bleeding and crying. She lost her baby in reception.
He says his partner had to pay a premium to hold on to her passport while her visa application is processed. They're seeking sanctuary in Poland while they wait to hear from the Home Office.
@jezmyers
🚨Scoop: From autumn, migrants will be required to scan their faces on smartwatches up to five times a day.
In May the
@ukhomeoffice
awarded tech co
@wearebuddi
a £6m contract to produce facial recognition watches, which will track location 24/7.
One man, who chose to stay in Kyiv,fearful a separation would become permanent:“I wouldn’t leave my wife. I just don't trust this government to behave normally -I have no faith that we would be reunited if I left. It feels like the entire system is rigged against people like us."
On a visit to Dover intake unit, Robert Jenrick ordered staff to paint over cartoons for children, telling them it is a "law enforcement environment...not a welcome centre".
🚨EXCL: Asylum seekers staying at Home Office hotels in and around Liverpool are alleged to have been harassed, humiliated and subjected to verbal and emotional abuse from senior hotel staff in what sources describe as a culture of "institutional abuse".
The Home Office Press Office has just been in contact, asking us to remove all references to the Home Office. To confirm, the legal challenge is against the Home Office, its staff and its agents. We will not be removing reference to the department on that basis.
What an utter disgrace. Having leaked his personal details, putting him and his family at significant risk, the government has now told this man he will not be brought to the UK under ACRS. He worked with the British government for over a decade.
After more than 18 months of unimaginable pain & suffering, Absolutely DEVASTATED 😔 to receive this rejection letter from
@FCDOGovUK
.
I'm absolutely lost for words, confused & in utter despair 💔
Unfortunately this unfair rejection means a 'slow & painful death' to my family
Earlier today I told the Foreign Affairs Select Committee that Afghans are now dying in the Channel as a direct result of the government's failed resettlement schemes. This is what happens when there are no safe routes.
A reminder: while the government feigns sympathy for the Afghans who drowned in the Channel this morning, they have brought twenty two people to the UK through the ACRS. Twenty two.
Silver lining: I'm very grateful to have had the support from editors, subeditors, lawyers and reader's editorial. That's not always the case for a freelancer going up against a big government comms dept.
15/ The plans have been a flashpoint for many staff. One senior official who has worked for the department for nearly two decades said morale is the lowest they’ve ever known it, saying “it wasn’t fit for purpose when I joined, and it’s even less fit for purpose now.”
21/ You can listen to our
@tortoise
deep dive here, including Jack's brilliant interviews with former Home Secretaries, Permanent Secretaries and senior civil servants. Huge thanks to
@Geordiedav
for indulging our street recordings and generally being great to work with.
New: On Wednesday Braverman said there's "no good reason for anybody to get into a small boat".
I've just returned from the camps of northern France and saw the conditions there. No good reason? There's no choice BUT to get in a small boat.
A year ago today
@ukhomeoffice
announced the launch of the ACRS. Still, not one person has been brought to the UK from Afghanistan under the scheme.
As we go into year 2, more than 11,000 Afghans are waiting for news. Many have been tortured, kidnapped and killed by the Taliban.
After many months of digging,
@maybulman
and I can reveal not one Afghan has been brought to the UK under the ACRS, with many facing torture and death.
Meanwhile, only 5-8 staff are working on the scheme compared to 540 on Ukraine.
If you want to do something to help, donate to the
@RNLI
today. They're volunteer-run, exceptionally skilled and do an outstanding job on the frontline day in, day out.
5/ Another said it is clear she knows she is perceived as a bully - and attempts to appear otherwise come across as “disingenous”. Even after a 12-hour day, Priti Patel's mannerisms are "deliberate and constructed, exactly as you see on TV." The mask never slips.
🚨Breaking: Over 100 detainees have occupied the courtyard inside Harmondsworth immigration removal centre to demand access to healthcare, which they say has been denied to them, including in instances of self-harm.
EXCL: Children born outside the UK to a British parent in a same sex relationship are being left stateless by the
@ukhomeoffice
.
Families told me they've been unable to see extended family for years because they can't get a passport for their child.
@ukhomeoffice
@guardian
While this is a great result - and shows the power of the media to hold government to account - it also shows how utterly flawed the immigration system is. Tens of thousands of families have been left in limbo, with limited information and no contact for months on end.
2/ Every morning, Priti Patel arrives at Marsham Street at around 7.30 and goes up to her office on the third floor.
Behind her desk, there are two union jack flags and facing her, there’s a whiteboard with her top priorities.
At the top: '1: Stop small boat crossings.'
8/ One source told me there’s a constant sense that control is slipping away. Part of everyday parlance is “What will the next Windrush be?” and there’s a ‘Daily Mail test’, where staff are told to consider whether any correspondence could appear on the Mail's front page.
🚨News: Four days after my story was published, this man has this morning been granted asylum. While this is wonderful news for him, this is absolutely not how the asylum system should work.
A Syrian interpreter, who translated for British government officials for five years, has just called to tell me he has attempted to take his own life after nearly two years waiting for a decision on his asylum claim.
@ukhomeoffice
- can we have an urgent response, please.
4/ Staff describe the atmosphere in that small office as “adrenaline-fuelled”, with one former aide saying that they would deliver updates into the Home Secretary’s office, return to their desk and “wait for an explosion”.
3/ On that whiteboard, there are around twenty other priorities - deport foreign national offenders, cut crime… - with Windrush compensation payments towards the bottom.
Just spoke to a member of the White Helmets in Aleppo.
"We spent two days to clear up a bombing site, rescuing people after airstrikes. Now we face a situation where fifty buildings collapsed in one area."
He was barely able to talk he was so overwhelmed by scale of the loss.
17/ Among those who do speak out, dissent is quickly quashed. When one junior member of staff addressed the use of language that surrounds asylum seekers - they’re routinely spoken of as ‘stocks and flows’ - they were told “junior colleagues need to learn how to raise issues.”
19/ I was told that what those young people say at the pub is very different to what they say in the office. At the pub, it's “Obviously these policies are shit, but what’s the alternative?” If a suggestion is made, they’ll say “That’s not going to be palatable to Ministers”.
Horrific scenes as far-right protesters gather outside a hotel for asylum seekers near Liverpool, chanting racist slurs and setting a police van on fire.
Clashes now between the fascist protestors and the police.
Really grim stuff. Must be terrifying for anyone looking on from inside that hotel. People flee war and violence to be faced with it in a place they thought safe.
9/ One of my sources noted that the culture of the department mimics the hierarchy in policing, with some staff walking around in police uniforms which, they said “makes it feel like a law enforcement organisation”. When that sense of law and order is challenged, Ministers react
Earlier I was asked to speak on a primetime radio programme, addressing why failings within the asylum system "may have led some asylum seekers to commit crimes". The context was Knowsley. Frankly, I'm appalled that was the editorial line and obv declined the interview request.
16/ Another said there is “a rule of fear” that seems to permeate Marsham Street, preventing people from speaking out - they’re worried they’ll be cut out of the loop, and, "that does happen".
18/ Another said: “It’s like a part of you dies walking in there”. There's a sense (which I shared when I worked at Marsham Street) that you are constantly morally compromised. But it’s a great place for young, ambitious people to cut their teeth and get ahead.
@ukhomeoffice
I contacted the Home Office to get a comment for a piece I was writing for the
@guardian
. Within two days, their case had been expedited and Peter has just been told they have changed their minds and he will now be granted the visa.
12/ At a meeting, Chris Philp was said to be “spitting with anger” the boats were broken and that his big success story had failed. After that, the Home Secretary, Ministers and aides began receiving twice-daily reports into their inboxes with information about wave heights.
20/ There’s a feeling of powerlessness, with one insider saying: “The machine will grind on, whether you’re on top or under the wheels. You’ve got to just keep your head down and power on.”
6/ There’s a rota for the Private Secretaries, so there will always be one in the office before Priti Patel arrives in the morning, with the remaining ten or so staff arriving soon afterwards.
I spoke to the British-Ukrainian couples facing the most agonising decision of all: to stay and risk their lives, or to leave and risk permanent separation from their loved ones.
13/ One contact said processing asylum claims on the Ascension Islands was definitely considered, with economic modelling drawn up, including the cost for a new runway, increased school capacity and other factors taken into consideration. Then... Rwanda.
14/ The Rwanda plans were led by the Foreign Office at first, with a shortlist of 30 countries drawn up. Some - like North Macedonia and Brazil - said no immediately, whereas others, like Ghana, Nigeria and, of course, Rwanda, were more interested.
7/ While there’s no real structure to the day, with “little grenades” constantly disrupting other work, there is time set aside to go through high security documents, including national security threats, which she will sign off herself.
Drives me nuts hearing MPs talking about a shortage of staff in the NHS when (part of) the solution is right there in front of them: lift the ban! Let asylum seekers - many of whom have the qualifications and decades of experience in nursing, midwifery, portering etc - work!
🚨EXCL: An 18-year-old man trapped in Gaza and separated from his parents, has brought a double legal challenge against the Home Office and the FCDO after the government refused entry for him to join his family in the UK.
"The blatant refusal to provide the level of sanctuary for Sudanese refugees in comparison to white Ukrainians has firmly exposed the unashamedly racist thinking at the heart of immigration legislation. They have created a segregated refugee system."
Some stories really stick with you. I was 35 weeks pregnant when I heard that she had lost her baby in the most callous, cruel way possible. I hope that bringing her story to light will go some way to seeking the justice she and her baby deserve.
Yesterday I spoke to man who had waited nearly three years for his leave to remain. After receiving his Home Office letter, he was handed an eviction notice, given 4 working days to find his own accommodation or risk facing homelessness. "Freedom comes with problems," he told me
“Welcome to Britain.” Ali Ibrahim has just been granted asylum, the start of his new life here. But he’s sleeping in a tent, relying on charity. Thousands of new refugees are in danger of destitution, after their support has effectively been cut from 28 to 7 days.More on
#c4news
10/ In summer 2021, Chris Philp wanted to debut the ‘new maritime tactic’, or ‘pushbacks’. It was his last week at the Home Office and he was very keen to roll it out before he left, so he ran a practice exercise...
The
@ukhomeoffice
said it rejected the visa because they weren't convinced Peter, an English teacher with a degree in English Literature, could prove knowledge of English. He had been given, and completed, the wrong language test at a centre in China.
The two senior Serco managers who ran an asylum seeker with schizophrenia into his room, kicked the door and shouted abuse at him have now been fired. Two others have meetings next week.
Serco insisted there was no basis to the allegations and tried to discredit the reporting.
🚨EXCL: Asylum seekers staying at Home Office hotels in and around Liverpool are alleged to have been harassed, humiliated and subjected to verbal and emotional abuse from senior hotel staff in what sources describe as a culture of "institutional abuse".
Earlier today I met some of those caught up in the English language test scandal.
Mrs Sarbjeet has been unable to see her daughter for a decade, unable to attend family funerals, unable to work, unable to finish her education. She says her life has been destroyed by Home Office.
This story is the reason I left the Home Office.
Almost ten years ago, I was sitting on the immigration desk in press office when we got word that a BBC Panorama documentary was about to air which exposed English language test cheating on a massive scale.
For those in London who are able to help, there's a relief convoy collecting clothes, bedding, shoes, drop-off in Balham, leaving for the Poland-Ukraine border on Monday. Equally, donate to the Polish Red Cross:
The charges are for negligence and discrimination. Her lawyer
@dpg_law
said: “Our client has experienced a catalogue of mistreatment, all linked to her being a woman, pregnant and black.”
After weeks of wrangling, this piece will run online tomorrow and in Sunday's paper. Despite strong opposition, we believe it's in the public interest to publish. Very grateful to Observer editors and lawyers for backing me.
Exclusive from me this Sunday
@ObserverUK
on abuse in Home Office hotels. Some very strong allegations from whistleblowers to watch out for amid the coronation coverage.
...and I spoke to charities and immigration lawyers
@ColinYeo1
and
@alexinlaw
about their response to the UK visa situation for British nationals and their Ukrainian spouses.