What a Nationality and Borders Bill could mean for refugee advocates
2021 Fellow, James Broadley raises the issue of asylum seeker advocacy startups and organisations becoming deterred from action if a Nationality and Borders Bill were to be introduced.
The Nationality and Borders bill, currently in the ‘committee stage’ at the House of Lords, is a proposed review of existing immigration policy. It claims that it will ‘break the business model’ of people smugglers and save lives by deterring people seeking asylum from taking dangerous routes into the country.
The bill presents several amendments to The Immigration Act of 1971. One particular amendment details penalties for “helping asylum seekers to enter the United Kingdom”, omitting the previous disclaimer, “for gain”. This extends the mandate for the prosecution to those whose actions can be perceived as assistance to a person seeking asylum to enter the country, whether this is done for financial gain or not.
Despite omitting only three words, the significance cannot be understated. This could mean that potentially any act perceived as assistance to enter the country unlawfully could result in severe, likely custodial penalties. Though the bill appears to identify logistical acts of assistance, such as chartering passage across the channel, there is no explicit safeguard against its focus expanding.
As seen with the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill, where 18 pages of proposed amendments were pushed forward in recent months, these new mandates are not static. This government has shown that it is prepared to widen the net of these already far-reaching powers, apparently as ministers see fit. With the above-mentioned focus on perceived assistance to those who seek asylum in mind, the implications for the reach of social enterprise and advocacy are troubling.
Hypothetically, future amendments could extend the criteria for ‘assisting unlawful immigration’ to offering legitimate humanitarian aid such as legal advice or translation services to asylum seekers at the point of entry. Home Secretary Priti Patel has made no secret of her contempt and hostility towards those whose work she sees as an obstacle to her agenda. At the 2020 Conservative conference, she made a point of denouncing so-called ‘do gooders’ and ‘lefty lawyers’, likening these figures to human traffickers and accusing them of ‘defending the broken system’.
As part of a speech pledging ‘the biggest overhaul of our asylum system in decades’, the context of these comments is difficult to ignore. With this bill, we see Patel’s solidification and legislation of promises throughout her tenure. Promises to ‘overhaul’ and harshen existing immigration policy. With her voiced contempt and vilification of groups and individuals working to advocate for those seeking asylum in this country, we must consider the risk now that she may seek to legislate against this.
This kind of rhetoric has also been seen by many, including some of Ms Patel’s own colleagues, as a catalyst for political violence. A knife attack on the offices of a human rights law firm in 2020 has been linked directly to these and similar comments. Graduates looking to establish startups focused on advocating for asylum seekers could be forgiven for being deterred by incidents like this. This trepidation is now likely compounded by a bill that appears to now translate these hard-line views into law.
However, we must not allow ourselves to be dissuaded from legitimate and vital work. Enterprises and initiatives focused on advocating for refugees are still perfectly legal at the time of writing. There will always be a reaction from those who see this kind of work as an obstacle to society’s functioning. At times there will be attempts at intimidation, though this should not prevent us from carrying out this work. To desist would be to fulfil the goal of those who would seek to intimidate and suppress. The law office attacked in September 2020 is still carrying out its important work. So should we.
