A Hostile Environment for Humanitarianism: the ‘illegalisation’ of irregular migrants in the UK

There are many people living in the UK without important protections and permissions (irregular migrants). Statutory responses are explicitly hostile, severely restricting access to services and causing profound suffering for those labelled ‘illegal’. This political framing serves myriad purposes for the elites devising policy, whilst obstructing humanitarians who uphold the human rights of irregular migrants.

Migrants have long been scapegoated by powerful elites to distract from the state’s failings and the problematisation of migrants in government policy ‘manufactures’ their illegality. This policy priority and rhetoric, prevalent since the ‘90s, escalated to an ‘existential threat’ as migration was increasingly associated with terrorism post-9/11. Successive crises prompted the UK government to pursue an increasingly securitised immigration agenda with migrants singled out as the cause of domestic woes. As society polarises, the Conservative party attempt to cling to power by appearing ‘tough on immigration’. The strategic aim here is to minimise concessions to other parties (as with UKIP and the Brexit referendum). This form of nationalism is ‘anti-immigrant racism expressed as nativism’ which our political elites lack the moral leadership to reject. Such an approach to border enforcement is performative though, as the government’s toxic, anti-immigrant rhetoric sharply contrasts with the highest-ever rate of positive asylum decisions.

The legacy of colonialism lingers on in the UK through entrenched racialised inequalities which drive political anti-immigrant sentiment. ‘Racialised hierarchies’ mirror colonial history, and so racism is central to UK irregular migration policy because the majority originate from non-European, post-colonial countries. Unwanted migrants (i.e. those not conforming to Western, liberal ideals) are deemed ‘inherently deficient’ and differentiated through a policy of illegalisation, involving ‘racialised processes of precaritisation’. Carefully worded ‘othering’ in government rhetoric dehumanises and dehistoricises people, rendering them ‘manageable’ whilst masking the role of law in creating and perpetuating ‘illegality’ in the first place.

The UK’s punitive statutory responses to irregular migrants severely restrict access to subsistence, housing, health and social care. To meet their basic needs, irregular migrants are forced to consent to ‘voluntary’ return, charged for secondary healthcare, children are exposed to flawed age assessments and adults in need of social care are subject to prohibitively high thresholds.

The illegalisation of irregular migrants means that there are some very real limits as to what advocacy and practical action by humanitarian workers can achieve. There is often extremely limited eligibility for basic services and few options for tangible progress. This threatens humanitarians’ hope for change and ability to persist. Even where eligibility exists, divisive government rhetoric foments everyday discrimination and hostility from public service providers often expressed through unyielding bureaucracy. All of which has the disempowering effect of deepening dependence upon the voluntary sector. However, charities’ ability to provide much-needed support for irregular migrants is at risk as public support and funding are undermined by the disorientating backdrop of illegalisation (which implies criminality).

The UK government’s illegalisation of irregular migrants causes profound suffering and reinforces racialised inequalities whilst hampering the work of humanitarians who advocate for the very human rights that they themselves have pledged to uphold. The UK government should cease divisive rhetoric and invest in person-centred, humanitarian partnerships which can meet irregular migrants’ basic needs, enabling them to engage in supportive and pragmatic conversations about their future.

References

• Carmel, E., Lenner, K., Regine, P., 2021. Handbook on the governance and politics of migration, Edward Elgar Publishing. Northampton.

• De Genova, N., 2010. Migration and Race in Europe: The Trans-Atlantic Metastases of a Post-Colonial Cancer. European journal of social theory, 13(3), 405–419.

• De Genova, N., 2013. Spectacles of migrant 'illegality': the scene of exclusion, the obscene of inclusion. Ethnic and racial studies, 36(7), 1180–1198.

• Duvell, F., 2006. Illegal immigration in Europe: beyond control? Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

• Evans, G., Mellon, J., 2019. Immigration, Euroscepticism, and the rise and fall of UKIP. Party politics, 25(1), 76–87.

• Goodfellow, M., 2019. Hostile environment: how immigrants became scapegoats, Verso. London.

• Guardian, 2022. The Tories concocted the myth of the ‘migrant crisis’. Now their survival depends on it. The Guardian [Online]. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/07/tories-myth-migrant-crisis-brexit-immigration-centre [Accessed 03/02/2023].

• Guhan, R., Liebling-Kalifani, H., 2011. The Experiences of Staff Working With Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the United Kingdom: A Grounded Theory Exploration. Journal of immigrant & refugee studies, 9(3), 205–228.

• Home Office, 2022. Immigration statistics data tables, year ending September 2022. Gov.uk [Online]. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-statistics-data-tables-year-ending-september-2022 [Accessed 20/01/2023].

• Ibrahim, Y., Howarth, A., 2018. Review of Humanitarian Refuge in the United Kingdom: Sanctuary, Asylum, and the Refugee Crisis. Politics and Policy, 46, 348-391.

• JCWI, 2021. The Hostile Environment explained. JCWI [Online]. Available from: https://www.jcwi.org.uk/the-hostile-environment-explained [Accessed 03/02/2023].

• Kang, C., Tomkow, L., Farrington, R., 2019. Access to primary health care for asylum seekers and refugees: a qualitative study of service user experiences in the UK. British journal of general practice, 69(685), 537–545.

• Malkki, L, 1996. Speechless Emissaries: Refugees, Humanitarianism, and Dehistoricization. Cultural anthropology, 11(3), 377–404.

• Mayblin, L., James, P., 2019. Asylum and refugee support in the UK: civil society filling the gaps? Journal of ethnic and migration studies, 45(3), 375–394.

• Migration Observatory, 2020. Recent estimates of the UK’s irregular migrant population. The Migration Observatory [Online]. Available from: https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/commentaries/recent-estimates-of-the-uks-irregular-migrant-population/ [Accessed 20/01/2023].

• NRPF Network, 2022. Social services support for adults. NRPF Network [Online]. Available from: https://www.nrpfnetwork.org.uk/information-and-resources/rights-and-entitlements/support-options-for-people-with-nrpf/social-services-support-for-adults/when-will-an-adult-be-eligible#guide-sections [Accessed 03/02/2023].

• Refugee Council, 2012. Between a rock and a hard place. Refugee Council [Online]. Available from: https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Refugee_Council_Between_a_Rock_and_a_Hard_Place_10.12.12.pdf [Accessed 10/02/2023].

• Right to Remain, 2017. New resource from NACCOM on hosting asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants. Right to Remain [Online]. Available from: https://righttoremain.org.uk/new-resource-from-naccom-on-hosting-asylum-seekers-refugees-and-other-migrants/ [Accessed 10/02/2023].

• Shahvisi, A., 2019. Austerity or Xenophobia? The Causes and Costs of the ‘Hostile Environment’ in the NHS. Health care analysis, 27(3), 202–219.

• Telegraph, 2012. Theresa May interview: 'We’re going to give illegal migrants a really hostile reception’. The Telegraph [Online]. Available from: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/theresa-may-interview-going-give-illegal-migrants-really-hostile/ [Accessed 20/01/2023].

• Triandafyllidou, A., 2016. Irregular migration in Europe: myths and realities, Routledge. London.

• Utych, S., 2018. How Dehumanization Influences Attitudes toward Immigrants. Political research quarterly, 71(2), 440–452.