In Sheffield last week ASSIST and SYMAAG were very pleased to support the first community meeting of These Walls Must Fall. Over 100 people in a packed out room gathered ideas and resources to challenge asylum detention.
In our view there’s a clear case to stop asylum detention. Almost 30,000 people are locked up in prison-like conditions every year, with no time limit on how long they can be held, simply because they do not (yet) have the correct immigration papers.
The majority of people detained are eventually released, but many never really recover from the trauma. It’s a terrible waste of money (£125 million a year), and a waste of lives.
Immigration detention is a wholly unnecessary, unjustifiable practice, one of the most harmful aspects of the UK’s “hostile environment” for migrants and a shameful civil rights abuse that cannot be ignored.
We will be working with others across the city to change hearts and minds within our communities. In the coming weeks there will be a planning meeting everyone is welcome to attend.
To learn more about the meeting and sign up to join the campaign visit the These Walls Must Fall website.