| Resumption of Immigration Bail Reporting Rt. Hon. Priti Patel Secretary Of State for the Home Office 12th November 2020 Dear Home Secretary, We are a campaign group with These Walls Must Fall based in Sheffield. Everyone in our group previously reported to the Home Office immigration reporting centres in Sheffield and Leeds. We write to you as people with direct experience of reporting, with the support of the below charities and organisations that assist migrants subject to immigration bail reporting conditions. As such, we write to request that you as Home Secretary, immediately suspend all immigration bail reporting conditions in the manner that was done through a Home Office notice on the 24th of March 2020 when The United Kingdom went into lockdown for the first time. The United Kingdom is into its second lockdown, a period that will last for four weeks beginning midnight 4th of November 2020 to 2nd of December 2020. It is of concern to us that the welfare of our communities and the public at large will be placed at risk during the period of public emergency should they continue reporting in person. In March this year your office issued temporary guidance to suspend immigration bail reporting conditions. For some people, including some within our number, reporting in person has re-started. The temporary guidance employed by The Immigration Reporting Centres involved measures such as text messaging and telephone calling our service users as an alternative to physically reporting at The Immigration Reporting Centres. The effectiveness of these measures were commendable to the extent that it became quite unnecessary to resume physical reporting as temporary measures achieved the objectives of The Immigration Reporting Centres. Rates of people absconding are incredibly low, and we don’t believe physical reporting is necessary. In addition, at the moment, physical reporting entails unnecessary travel that places us, our community, as well as the public at risk due to Covid-19. Members of our group who are now having to report are extremely stressed by the reporting itself, and the travel on public transport during a pandemic, and the increased Covid risk as a result. More generally, we believe reporting is bad for public health. Many of the people in our community who report, many of whom seek asylum in this country, have mental and physical health disorders, suffer from post-traumatic stress disorders, anxiety issues and communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, and live in poverty with no recourse to public funds, situations that place them at very high risk during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the longer term, we also question the essence and efficacy of physical reporting itself to all Immigration Reporting Centres. In the light of the effectiveness of the temporary measures during the first national lockdown, during which the traditional method of immigration bail reporting was rendered completely unnecessary. The new method of text messaging and telephone voice calling achieved the objectives of The Immigration Reporting Centres and we believe it should become the new norm. Reporting in person is extremely stressful for individuals at any time due to harassment from staff arising out of airport type security checks and the risk of detention, and during a pandemic carries additional risk, particularly in travel there and back. Regards, Voice for Voiceless Immigration Detainees Yorkshire (These Walls Must Fall) Supported By: African Rainbow Family ASSIST Sheffield Bail for Immigration Detainees Bristol Defend the Asylum Seekers Campaign Bristol Refugee Rights Bristol Signing Support City of Sanctuary Sheffield Coventry Asylum and Refugee Action Group Detention Action Kalayaan Migrant Voice Migrants Organise Mount Pleasant Park FC Refugee Action Refugee Info Bus Refugee Media Group Right to Remain Samphire Sisters United Halifax SOAS Detainee Support South Yorkshire Refugee Law and Justice Student Action for Refugees Sheffield UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group Voices Ambassadors Sheffield Wakefield and District City of Sanctuary |