Suspend Reporting Conditions During COVID-19

On 17 March 2020, Migrants Organise – together with the Helen Bamber Foundation – have written to Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, to urgently provide a clear confirmation that all immigration reporting conditions will be suspended given the Covid-19 pandemic

There is no good justification for requiring immigration bail reporting conditions to continue. Migrants Organise recently published a report which sets out clearly how, even in normal circumstances, reporting conditions can be extremely burdensome and detrimental to many vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers. This impact is exacerbated during the present public health emergency.

Any public interest in managing the risk of individuals absconding is far outweighed by the public interest in managing the serious health risks posed by COVID-19, both to individual migrants asked to report and society at large. 

We have asked the Secretary of State to provide this confirmation by 4pm on Friday 20 March 2020. Our letter is endorsed by many organisations and charities in the sector who are equally concerned with continued reporting conditions. Please see our full letter here, and the full list of signatories is published at the bottom of this post.

If you would like to add your organisation’s name to this letter, please email brian@migrantsorganise.org, and we will update the letter regularly.

Sheffield Reporting and Offender Management officer has also today confirmed by email that all reporting conditions will be suspended for at least one month, including those who have not received a text message confirmation. We will continue to keep track of this to ensure that reporting conditions are not resumed prematurely. 

If you are working with migrants or are yourself affected by ongoing reporting condition, please email brian@migrantsorganise.org 

Supporting Organisations – Updated 10 April 2020

Brian Dikoff, Legal Organiser, Migrants Organise
Jennifer Blair, Head of Legal Protection, Helen Bamber Foundation

Anti Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit (ATLEU)

Ashiana Network

Asylum Welcome Oxford

Baobab Women’s Project CIC

CARIS Haringey

Citizens Advice Staffordshire North and Stoke on Trent.

Coventry Asylum and Refugee Action Group (CARAG)

Croydon Refugee Day Centre

Derby Refugee Advice Centre 

Detention Action

Doncaster Conversation Club

Entraide (Mutual Aid)

Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group

Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU)

Hackney Migrant Centre 

Haringey Migrant Support Centre

Housing Justice

Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA)

Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants

Islington Somali Community 

JCWI

Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) UK

Kalayaan

Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network

MedAct

Migrants’ Rights Network

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum

Refugee Council

Refugee Women Connect

Room to Heal

Sante Refugee Mental Health Access Project

Seraphus

Simpson Millar

SOAS Detainee Support

Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers.

Southwark Law Centre

St. Augustine’s Centre

The AIRE Centre 

The Cotton Tree Trust

The Magpie Project

The Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London

Together with Migrant Children

Unity Centre Glasgow

University of Liverpool Law Clinic

Women for Refugee Women

Young Roots

Youth Legal

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