Croydon BME Forum has taken a principled stand and cancelled the Immigration Enforcement Teams controversial “Immigration Surgeries” that it was hosting. This followed a constructive exchange of emails between the Resistance Kitchen and Andrew Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Croydon BME Forum.
Opposites
Croydon BME Forum describes itself as ‘Giving Black and Minority Ethnic People a Voice in Croydon’, about ‘promoting equality and cohesion’. Immigration Enforcement on the other hand, is the law enforcement agency within the Home Office that is responsible for carrying out violent raids on overwhelmingly vulnerable Black and Minority Ethnic Peoples homes, and their places of work to arrest and deport them, tearing our community apart in the process. So we were shocked when we saw flyers suggesting the two contradictory organisations were partners in a project targeting vulnerable people with immigration problems.
Raising Our Concerns
We shared our concerns with Andrew Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Croydon BME Forum:
BME Forum partnering with Immigration Enforcement
For the attention of:
Andrew Brown, Chief Executive Officer, Croydon BME Forum
Dear Andrew Brown,
We are a community kitchen serving those in need in our community of Croydon.
We have been made aware of this alarming flyer which seems to suggest the BME Forum has teamed up with Immigration Enforcement to host a series of events where vulnerable people at risk of possible deportation are being asked to come and talk to Immigration Enforcement.
I’m sure you are aware that Immigration Enforcement is the very law enforcement agency within the Home Office that is responsible for carrying out violent raids on some of the most vulnerable in our community, usually from the BME community, kidnapping then for forced deportation. Our community in Croydon is traumatised by a raid every 4 days, and that is now being stepped up. The fact that Immigration Enforcement on the flyer promise not to arrest anyone speaks volumes.
Why is the BME Forum partnering with an organisation that causes so much suffering in the BME community? That’s very disappointing.
Our understanding is that one session has already taken place, and the next one is due in two weeks time on 17th October.
We hope you will reconsider linking your prestigious organisation, with the respect it holds in our community, to Immigration Enforcement and the contempt and fear it instils in our community.
Yours sincerely
Abbas Ali
Resistance Kitchen
Constructive Exchange
This led to a constructive exchange of emails.
We questioned why Immigration Enforcement had chosen Croydon BME Forum to host the immigration surgery when their own offices were just across the road:
Why do your think Immigration Enforcement want to use your organisation to host their sessions?
Just across the road from you is the headquarters of the Home Office Immigration Department – Lunar House. I’m sure they could have found a spare room in that 20 storey building to hold their ‘Immigration Surgery’, and saved money in the process.
But I doubt anyone from the community would have turned up because they recognise Lunar House as a place of torment and fear.
Just a few weeks ago when we protested outside Lunar House asking for the abolishment of immigration reporting, one person who attended told us she still has fear of that place even though she stopped having to report years ago and her immigration status is now fine. Everytime someone goes inside, there is a real chance they will not come out again. We have seen countless people enter with loved ones waiting outside, only to be violently kidnapped by Immigration Enforcement officers and bundled around the back into unmarked vans to be taken to detention camps for deportation, with their loved one clueless still waiting outside.
They are using your organisation to provide “a trusted environment”, as mentioned on the leaflet, for them to infiltrate our community. Is this really who you want to partner with?
And we questioned what exactly is the purpose of the surgeries:
Did you ask why they are there, exactly what service to they provide?
The leaflet says they don’t provide legal advice which is what people with immigration problems require.
The advice they do provide is not independent, its from the perspective of Immigration Enforcement – their job is to deport people. The community hasn’t forgotten their vans with racist adverts urging immigrants to “go home or face arrest”. Would you trust any advice they give?
They are counting on vulnerable people in our community with no means to seeking actual unbiased legal advice, to be lulled, by the “trusted environment ” you provide, into taking biased advice design to send immigrants “home”.
Croydon BME Forum Takes A Principled Decision
To Andrew Brown’s immense credit, after a couple of weeks of discussion – a few days before the next scheduled surgery was due to take place, he wrote to us:
“We have cancelled this surgery.”
Taking such a principled decision can’t have been easy considering a commitment had already been made to the Home Office.
We wrote back:
“That’s a commendable decision in defence of your community, which I’m sure the community will not forget.”
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