UK: Young arrivers share common routes to immigration detention and face specific forms of harm
21 November 2017
Support our work: become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.
UK
Report: young arrivers share common routes to immigration detention and face specific forms of harm
21.11.17
Follow us: 
| 
| Tweet
"Children who are not citizens, or ‘young arrivers’ often face difficulties growing up in the UK, but their rights are generally more extensive than those of adults. It is far less likely that they will be detained or deported than adults. Once children approach 18, they move from protected to unprotected status. Many are not able to secure settled immigration status, but even when they do, they risk automatic deportation orders if they go to prison.
Having spent a significant part of their formative years in the UK, some adults end up detained in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) while the government tries to deport them to places that feel foreign. This can be a frightening process which dramatically challenges identities and rights that they previously took for granted. But there has been little written on the topic and no research about this group in relation to immigration detention.
This research uncovers ways in which people who arrived when they were under 18 become detained as adults, and explores how detention affects them as a distinctive group. The work provides a platform for the voices of people whose conceptions of safety, belonging and Britishness have been shaken by the immigration controls they are now subjected to."
See the University of Bristol/Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group policy briefing: Young arrivers share common routes to immigration detention and face specific forms of harm (pdf) by Dan Godshaw.
Full report: Don't dump me in a foreign land: immigration detention and young arrivers(Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group, link to pdf)
Search our database for more articles and information or subscribe to our mailing list for regular updates from Statewatch News Online.
Our work is only possible with your support.
Become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.
Spotted an error? If you've spotted a problem with this page, just click once to let us know.