Recent Developments

Very recently the Home Office, in an apparent acknowledgement of its own ineptitude, sent letters declaring it was going to try to resolve the backlog of these so-called 'legacy' cases by 2011 at the latest. These letters were written in 2009, so only another possible 2 years to add to the near decade of wasted life then. The way they plan to 'resolve' the cases was not explicitly stated so for a further two years these people are to continue waiting, in fear, for the day they receive news either of discretionary leave to remain or enforced deportation.

The next letter was equally vague. It asks those people who are supported on Section 4 to provide 4 passport photos. To what end they do not know. So they provide them, hoping that this is for the identity documents. To many people, this was a hopeful sign: 'they want the photos to give me a passport! At last!'. To others it was far more sinister. It came with no explanation, no promises. Just a request.

In the past two weeks I have been informed of two cases: one where a family were, in their entirety, given leave to remain. The second was a young man who was sent a final refusal letter and informed that he was no longer eligible for any support. One week later his landlord, a private agent providing accommodation, chucked his belongings into a bin bag and physically threw him onto the street. His support had been cut, he had no further advice on how to survive, he had no knowledge of what would happen next. He only knew that now he was homeless. He is lucky that he has friends who will take him in for the night and share their food with him, though, with £35 vouchers only, it won't go far. And at the same time, they too are wondering if they have the same fate to look forward to.

The situation has now become urgent for me. I wrote to Alan Johnson in December after several of my students had received the photo request letter and were concerned about its meaning. He has yet to acknowledge my letter and suddenly people I know and have a duty of care towards are being forced onto the streets and left destitute. They are being treated like criminals and yet they came here for help. After years of not being allowed to leave the UK and being forced to live in humiliating circumstances they are being further punished by having the last pathetic bit of support taken away from them. It is with a sense of urgency that I am posting these opinions, whilst hopefully drumming up support from other sympathetic sorts who will also help to publicise this horrific discrimination at the hands of our own government.