A Sheffield based action group has launched a petition calling on the council to challenge the government regarding migrant and asylum seeker rights.
South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group (SYMAAG) began to circulate the campaign earlier this week.
This comes after their demonstration outside Vulcan House last Thursday in solidarity with a member of the group who was threatened with deportation to Zimbabwe.
Group member and secretary Stuart Crosthwaite said: “The threat of detention and deportation hangs over every person who seeks asylum whose claim hasn’t been recognised.
“It’s important for people to know that every time people who seek asylum are asked to report to the home office, which is usually every two weeks, there’s a real danger that they won’t come out of it and will be sent to detention in an immigration detention van. These people have lives and families, as you can imagine, that worries people greatly.”
The petition specifically aims to call on the UK government to withdraw the UK-Rwanda agreement, repeal the Nationality and Borders Act, and work with Local Authorities to build a refugee protection system treating people with dignity and compassion.
“The current legislation has a way of putting fear into people so they don’t seek asylum- but that’s their right. This is what people are talking about when they say there is a ‘hostile environment.”
The petition states that the current Nationality and Borders Act does not address the issues it sets out, and claims the current system punishes people seeking safety based on the journeys they make.
According to Avid detention 25,282 people entered detention from January to March 2022, which was nearly double the number of the previous year ending in March 2021. In a similar upward trend, 24,918 people left detention.
Marian from SYMAAG (who’s name has been changed to protect her identity) told Sheffield Live! about her fears of deportation to Zimbabwe in 2019. She fled due to the repressive government, who have been challenged by Amnesty International for repeatedly ‘violating’ human rights.
Marian claimed that when the Zimbabwean embassy is given the identity of someone who has sought asylum abroad, people can sometimes ‘go missing’ from the airport.
After almost 17 years in the UK, Marian expressed her fears of reporting for an immigration interview because of the threat of detention.
Mr Crosthwaite said: “Every day in Sheffield people have to experience this fear of being deported as they report at Vulcan House.”
Just last week, another member of SYMAAG was forced to report at the Vulcan House Home Office reporting centre.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Our ground-breaking Migration Partnership will see those who make dangerous and illegal journeys to the UK relocated to Rwanda, where they will be supported to build new lives.
“Our thorough assessment of Rwanda found that it is a safe and secure country with a track record of supporting asylum seekers. The Court recently upheld this and found that our policy is lawful.
“We remain committed to delivering this policy to break the business model of people smuggling gangs and prevent further loss of life.”
The link to the petition can be found here: