Human rights groups have published a report laying bare the extent to which the government’s so-called “hostile environment” immigration policies have spread into all areas of UK life, encouraging discriminatory and racist behaviour.
The report complied by Liberty, the National Union of Students and the Migrants Rights Network, and others shows immigration controls are embedded at the heart of the UK’s public services, and that they encourage discrimination against black and ethnic minority or visibly “foreign” people, disproportionately affect the young, the homeless and those on lower incomes who are less likely to have a passport or other form of ID, shatter the carefully cultivated relationships of trust between public servants and those they serve, and prevent frontline workers from supporting people they know are in dire need, while burdening them with complex immigration-related tasks.
This government-sponsored hostility towards migrants was spearheaded by now prime minister Theresa May during her time as home secretary, and was largely enforced through the 2014 and 2016 Immigration Acts. The government now requires employers, landlords, private sector workers, NHS staff and other public servants to check a person’s immigration status before they can offer them a job, housing, healthcare or other support.
