Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre (formerly Hassockfield) opened in December 2021 with the primary purpose of locking up women sanctuary seekers, a process otherwise known as detention. Local Conservative MP, Richard Holden, welcomed the plan, saying it would bring much needed jobs to the area. In reality it has been a costly exercise which has put millions of pounds of public money into the pockets of private companies.
No to Hassockfield campaigners
No To Hassockfield campaigners believe that immigration detention is cruel and unnecessary wherever it is located, and that it has a catastrophic impact on people’s lives regardless of the gender of those incarcerated. Monthly protests at the site therefore continue to be organised and will continue despite the government announcing that the IRC will be repurposed as a detention centre for men.
Rwanda
Since passing the misleadingly named Safety of Rwanda Act, the Home Office has escalated its racist and violent border regime by ‘surprise’ detaining people seeking asylum in order to attempt to deport them to Rwanda, against their will and in contravention of international humanitarian law. The Rwanda plan first forces people who have fled violence and persecution into detention centres where they may face abuse and mistreatment, with no time limit on their stay, as well as re-traumatising them through psychological harm. They will then be removed to a country to which they have no connection, despite the UK’s Supreme Court ruling that it is unsafe for them. Through enacting this cruel law, the government will put people seeking sanctuary at grave risk of mental and physical harm, and of being returned to danger in the countries from which they fled.
No To Hassockfield oppose the UK government’s determination to lock up more and more people – wherever this may be. The campaign continues to hear devastating stories about the inhumane treatment of people seeking sanctuary in this country and therefore demands an end to this abuse.
People are now frequently being transferred between detention centres, losing contact with family, friends, legal and other support systems in the process. Many people already in the asylum process are fearful of attending regular appointments at Reporting Centres for fear of being ’rounded up’ and sent to holding facilities prior to being forced onto deportation flights to Rwanda and elsewhere.
Several months ago, the Home Office announced that Derwentside IRC is going to become an all-male facility and that the capacity will increase from 80 to 120. To date, NoTo Hassockfield are not aware of any such change being made at Derwentside, and will continue regular protests until the facility is closed and the site repurposed for a positive development that will better serve the local community.
Dr. Helen Groom from No To Hassockfield said;
“Outsourcing our asylum system to other countries is never acceptable. It abandons our duty to share in the global responsibility towards those forced to seek safety. Instead of continuing down this dangerous path, the Government must guarantee that asylum claims will be heard fairly on our shores, and open safe routes so that people are not forced to take dangerous journeys. No to Hassockfield call on local MP Richard Holden and the Tory party to abandon this cruel and unworkable plan. We also insist that an incoming government should have a compassionate, workable plan for ensuring that the UK upholds our responsibility to support refugees. Given the chance, communities across our country go the extra mile to welcome those in need. We know that the wider public do not support the Rwanda plan.”
The human rights campaigners feel strongly that the hundreds of millions of pounds spent on the Rwanda policy and on indefinite immigration detention, could be much better spent on compassionate, practical and cheaper alternatives. The evaluation report of Home Office funded projects, jointly sponsored with UNHCR, provided helpful and objective evidence regarding alternatives to detention [4]. The first project run by Action Foundation in Newcastle along with the second, run by the King’s Arms Project in Bedford, sought to provide holistic case management, outside of immigration detention, for each participant. Project findings concluded that these alternatives were compassionate, practical and cheaper than detaining people. In letters to constituents, the current Tory government refutes this evidence.
The campaigners ask the government to uphold its international human rights obligations regarding people seeking sanctuary by ending detention and ditching the Rwanda plan.
This article is based on a news release from the No to Hassockfield campaign
