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AVIDdetention

@aviddetention.bsky.social
1.2K followers 684 following 180 posts

Membership network for volunteer visitors to immigration detention. Helping those detained in removal centres, STHF & prisons across UK.

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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 9h
Exactly this. Another alarm bell here: are we watching another nationality become the face of an immigration “crackdown”? We saw what happened when Albanians were singled out in enforcement. Now Romanian nationals — including possible trafficking victims — are foregrounded in this operation.
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 9h
Join this launch of Taking Liberties — a new exhibition exploring how immigration detention and reporting. 📅 15 October 🕕 6pm Runs until 15 January 2027. Find out more from @biddetention.bsky.social and @migrantsorganise.bsky.social about the launch: www.biduk.org/articles/joi...
biduk.org
Join us for the Launch of Taking Liberties: Detention, Reporting and Resistance
Taking Liberties is a new exhibition exploring how immigration detention and reporting deprive people of their freedom, rights and autonomy.
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A delay has been announced to the inquiry on plans to expand Campsfield immigration detention centre. Letter from lawyers acting pro bono on behalf of the @closecampsfield.bsky.social requesting the Home Office publish more material relating to its planning app www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/2659169...
oxfordmail.co.uk
Delay announced for inquiry into immigration detention centre plans
An inquiry into controversial plans to expand an Oxfordshire immigration detention centre has been delayed.
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
HMIP said: "Given that more than half of all detainees were eventually released, there is a question as to why so many were locked up at a huge cost to the taxpayer in the first place." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Legal advice delays for migrants at removal centre near Gatwick
Inspectors find detainees at Tinsley House can wait up to a week without getting legal help.
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
21 children transferred from Manston into immigration detention, @hmiprisonsnews.bsky.social inspectors find. Read and share our press release below www.aviddetention.org.uk/article/pres...
aviddetention.org.uk
[Press Release] HMIP report on Tinsley House IRC inspection, Manston, and UK-France Scheme
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Jesuit Refugee Service UK @jrsuk.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Tayeb* was just 16 when he fled Sudan and came to the UK seeking safety. When his age was wrongly recorded, he was detained at Harmondsworth IRC and treated as an adult. With support from our Detention Outreach Team, he secured an age assessment and was eventually released into care.
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
🚨 What happened at Manston detention center was not accident! The inquiry has heard how failures at Manston were linked to decisions at the highest levels of gov. It was overcrowded and dangerous. Could the entire operation at Manston was outside the law? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Overcrowding and racism at Manston asylum centre linked to government decisions, inquiry hears
Kent facility became dangerously overburdened after ministers halted transfers to hotels
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
‼️Update : Public Inquiry into expansion of Campsfield detention centre, near Oxford, has been postponed until further notice.
In a black background it says latest information- inquiey is postponed
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
19 years old. Fled violence in South Sudan. Experienced abuse in Libya. Now imprisoned in the UK. The court heard no evidence Atak organised or profited from the Channel crossing. Look beyond the “small boat pilot” headline. This is where borders, race & criminalisation collide.
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Register to join this exhibition launch with two great organisations and partners @biddetention.bsky.social + @migrantsorganise.bsky.social 📅Thursday, October 15, 2026 at 18:00. Led and curated by people with lived experience of the immigration system! actionnetwork.org/events/takin...
actionnetwork.org
Taking Liberties Exhibition Launch!
Join us on 15th October for the launch of Taking Liberties: Detention, Reporting and Resistance, a new exhibition exploring the ways in which immigration detention and reporting deprive people of thei...
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
🚨Despite significant local opposition, the Home Office is using the Crown Development route to push ahead with plans for one of the UK’s largest immigration detention centres. Now, the plans will face a public inquiry. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Haslar Immigration Removal Centre set for planning inquiry
Gosport's council leader and MP had called for scrutiny of plans to expand and re-open the centre.
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
At least 41 children and young people returned to France are unknown. Sit with that. We have warned about the harm of “one in, one out” from the beginning. The answer cannot be to extend or export this model. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Hundreds of asylum seekers removed from UK to France have disappeared, say NGOs
Rights groups say those missing after being deported under one in, one out deal include dozens of age-disputed children
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Gosport council leader is calling for an open inquiry into expanding Haslar Immigration detention centre. The new letter calls on the Home Office to support an open inquiry, reduce redactions in published documents and establish a community liaison panel. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Call for open inquiry into Haslar Immigration Removal Centre
Gosport Borough Council leader Zoe Huggins has written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
🚨 Nearly 1 in 3 age-disputed people detained under “one-in, one-out” were later found to be CHILDREN. This is what happens when speed, deterrence and deportation targets come before safeguarding. End the scheme. End child detention. End detention. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Nearly 100 children detained as adults under UK-France migration deal
Figures emerge in critical letter to Home Office from organisation appointed to scrutinise detention facilities
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
"Having a visitor in detention was a way for me to forget about the walls I was caged in." We are developing a local, grassroot visiting group for Swinderby RSTHF and HMP Mortonhall. ⚡Join our information session to learn more and no commitment required: events.humanitix.com/avid-s-infor...
events.humanitix.com
AVID Information Session - Immigration Detention and The Role of Visitors
An information session for people in Lincolnshire/Nottinghamshire about providing support to people in the area who are incarcerated for immigration reasons.
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Women for Refugee Women @4refugeewomen.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Immigration detention is failing women - over and over again - and the mounting evidence leaves no room for denial. The Government must act now. Failure to do so is acceptance of a system that causes harm. Read our op-ed with @aviddetention.bsky.social and @sdvisitors.bsky.social 11/11
leftfootforward.org
Immigration detention is failing women – and the prison watchdog’s report leaves no room for denial
The HM Chief Inspector of Prisons' latest report confirms what women have been saying for years: immigration detention causes profound harm
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
The Government is bypassing local councils to expand Campsfield IRC and reopen Haslar detention centre. As our Co-Director Gee Manoharan told The i Paper: "Immigration detention centres felt like a conveyor belt of harm." Expanding detention doesn't solve anything - It expands the suffering.
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
🥊 British Champion. Represented England six times. Detained twice. Still waiting to belong on paper. Bilal Fawaz was trafficked to the UK as a child. Instead of receiving the protection he needed, he was criminalised, twice detained+threatened with deportation www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing...
bbc.co.uk
Bilal Fawaz: British light-middleweight champion fighting for a British passport
British champion Bilal Fawaz has lived in the UK for more than 20 years but is fighting for British citizenship - his story features in a new BBC documentary.
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
An escape from Campsfield isn't the story. The story is that the UK reopened a detention centre with a documented history of riots, abuse and neglect—and now plans to expand it from 160 to 400 places. The answer isn't more security, it is ending immigration detention! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Detainee escapes Campsfield Immigration Removal Centre escort
The Home Office said the detainee absconded on Tuesday.
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Coalition to Close Campsfield @closecampsfield.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
🚨URGENT ACTION: There are only 3 DAYS LEFT to submit your objection to the expansion of Campsfield detention centre to the Planning Inspectorate's consultation. ✍️Find out how on our pinned thread or here: tinyurl.com/campsfieldobjection ‼️Send your submission BEFORE July 24 at 23:59!
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Thank you to @left-foot-forward.bsky.social for covering this story! Members of our visitor groups networks has said the findings reflect a detention system that repeatedly places administrative convenience above people's safety, dignity, and wellbeing.
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Scottish Detainee Visitors @sdvisitors.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Important thread here on a new thematic review on women in detention from HMIP. Along with @4refugeewomen.bsky.social and @aviddetention.bsky.social we’ve long been concerned about the specific harms to women of immigration detention.
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
The home secretary’s decision to reduce protections for potential trafficking victims being considered for removal under the “one in, one out” asylum deal was unlawful, a high court judge has ruled. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Mahmood’s cutting of protections for UK-France ‘one in, one out’ asylum deal ruled unlawful
Asylum seekers win ruling against home secretary’s reduction of safeguards for potential victims of trafficking
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Mark Nelson came to the UK in 2000, is now detained: “I’m in a hot and filthy cell on the induction wing. My mental health is so bad because of what the Home Office has done to me. For the first time in my life, I have taken antidepressant medication" www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Jamaican man who has lived in UK for 26 years facing deportation
Case of Mark Nelson, 46, is one of first since new measures were announced in last week’s immigration bill
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
A vital report launch by @biddetention.bsky.social next Wednesday hosted by @gardencourtlaw.bsky.social A deeply troubling reality: people are being kept in immigration detention simply because there is nowhere for them to be released to. 📅 Register here: gardencourtchambers.co.uk/event/report...
gardencourtchambers.co.uk
Report Launch - ‘No Accommodation, No Freedom: The Impact of Accommodation Delays on Release from Immigration Detention’ | Garden Court Chambers
Join us for the launch of Bail for Immigration Detainees’ new report: ‘No Accommodation, No Freedom: The Impact of Accommodation Delays on Release from Immigration Detention’. The report reveals that ...
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
🚨 Robert Jenrick has been rebuked for failing to provide evidence to the Manston Inquiry. If politicians champion detention and deterrence, shouldn't they answer for the consequences? No accountability. No lessons learned. More detention. More harm. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Jenrick rebuked for not providing evidence to asylum detention inquiry
Former immigration minister criticised by inquiry chair for failing to give statement about ‘wretched’ Manston site
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
We condemn the racist violence targeting migrant and racialised communities in Belfast. We stand in solidarity with those affected and the community groups responding on the ground. Racism is not a solution to violence. Solidarity is. 🧡
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
“The board felt this risked perceptions of bias or even intimidation among detained people, especially in the light of recent immigration protests in which flag displays were prominent." www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Staff at immigration detention centre wore England flags, report finds
Chair of prisons and detention watchdog concerned about intimidating effect as wide-ranging and damning review published
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Border Criminologies @bordercrim.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Powerful stories from participants with experience of immigration detention in police custody this week with @aviddetention.bsky.social. People selected items to tell their stories– A clock: "I lost so much time." Wool: "I couldn't find the end of the thread." A dog: "they treated us like dogs."
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
1,000 people crossed the Channel this weekend. And govt's response? Extend the cruel “one in, one out” deportation deal People flee war, persecution, trafficking, poverty & genocide — not because of “pull factors” “The government keeps presenting cruelty as competence.” inews.co.uk/news/world/o...
inews.co.uk
'One in, one out' migrant deal extended – as critics call it cruel and wrong
Asylum seekers and NGOs say the scheme is failing, but French authorities say give it more time
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
“...When he found out he had been given a ticket for France, he said he felt so emotionally tired after everything he had been through. We think that is why he tried to end his life. We feel so sorry about what happened to him." www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Asylum seeker has deportation ticket cancelled after attempting suicide
Eritrean man was due to be forcibly removed to France under ‘one in, one out’ scheme
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Border Criminologies @bordercrim.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Next up, Nabila Islam on the US immigration court under Trump 2.0, including the appointment of military judges, immigration judges being reframed as ‘deportation judges’ on social media, & alternatives to detention. “All these things ICE sold to us as care are just part of the custodial continuum.”
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Border Criminologies @bordercrim.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Chiekh Sene & Deanna Dadusc on storytelling criminalisation of migration: resisting borders, prison & colonial legacies. “Boat drivers saved their own lives and other people’s lives too… When invited to speak on borders we’re always asked for testimonies of violence and never as political subjects.”
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
🏳️‍⚧️ Visitors groups in our network are reporting a disturbing pattern: trans people placed in segregation for most — of their detention. Stephen Shaw review warned about this back in 2016. Next month the Home Office will change its logo to rainbow colours for Pride with utter hypocrisy!
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Border Criminologies @bordercrim.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Lastly, Ananya Kumar-Banerjee on political critique and judicial change to family life under Article 8 ECHR, including UK government attempts to tighten the definition of ‘family’ in order to restrict arrivals and appeals. Check out the programme 👉 www.law.ox.ac.uk/content/even...
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Thanks to Border Criminologies for giving us space yesterday. Police cells are becoming an extension of immigration detention — a diffusion of detention into new spaces, yet without the safeguards, support mechanisms, or scrutiny people should have.
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
No matter who you vote for tomorrow, we should never normalise cages, abuse and violent detention and deporation in our name. Watch this before anyone talks about being “tough” on migrants again: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fp0...
youtube.com
BBC Panorama - "Undercover: Britains Immigration Secrets"
YouTube video by Brook House Inquiry
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
“I am the first asylum seeker returned to France to receive this rejection. If I return to the UK on a small boat, the Home Office will catch me and put me back in detention. If I go back to Syria, the YPG militia will get me. What should I do?” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Deportation as reality! If more people were made to witness what happens in their name, perhaps the real question would no longer be how to deport more efficiently, but why we continue to accept this cruelty as justice. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
A brutal wrestle on a plane, passengers outraged, attendants helpless: I saw the UK’s deportation policy at work | Hugh Muir
On the runway at Gatwick, the visceral reality of forced removals was laid bare. If only more could see what is done in our name, says Hugh Muir, executive editor, Opinion
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
[📺Event] An interesting event about realities of women, girls and gender-diverse people in immigration detention by @idcoalition.bsky.social register here to attend tomorrow: 🗓️ 28 April tomorrow 🕤 9am EDT or 2pm GMT | Online us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
us02web.zoom.us
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: IMRF Virtual Side Event: Women, Girls and Immigration Detention: Exploring Gender-Responsive Alternatives. After registering, you will receive a confirmatio...
The negative and long-term impacts of immigration detention are well documented, yet analysis of the experiences and realities of women, girls and gender-diverse people in immigration detention have p...
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
🚨 More detention. More deportations. More violence. The UK is paying French officers to detain and deport people fleeing war — as if expanding enforcement will somehow create safety. It won’t. It will only deepen harm, trauma, and abuse. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
UK to pay for French officers to deport asylum seekers from war-torn countries
Removal site in Dunkirk will hold people of 10 nationalities trying to reach UK in small boats under new £660m deal with French
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End Deportations Belfast @enddbelfast.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
We were out today to say ‘Not One More’. Thousands in Belfast showed up to demand an end to gender based violence. Whether this is in the home or in Larne House immigration detention centre, It must be stopped. Thanks as always to ROSA North - Socialist Feminist Movement for organising.
Not One More Rally, Belfast. Not one more rally Belfast.Not one more rally Belfast.Not one more rally Belfast.
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End Deportations Belfast @enddbelfast.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
A statement from End Deportations Belfast on news that Invest NI have been funding repressive tech used by US ICE.
enddeportationsbelfast.wordpress.com
Invest NI and ICE: ‘We have a nice little database’.
Invest NI is really proud of Belfast’s growing place in defence industries. On their page they boast: “Northern Ireland is recognised for its commitment to developing world-class innovative technol…
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
🚨 People seeking safety are being restrained at the waist & legs on flights under the UK–France “one-in, one-out” deal. Our joint statement warned this last month: excessive force, and deepening harm-all built into the policy itself End the scheme. End detention. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Asylum seekers removed from UK in waist and leg restraints, report finds
Inspection reveals use of force after protest by detainees being deported under ‘one in, one out’ scheme
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
💸The Rwanda saga continues. UK tried to deport people to Rwanda under an unlawful, inhumane scheme. Now Rwanda is taking the UK to arbitration, demanding millions in payments. 'Externalisation comes with real legal and political costs' Human lives caught in between www.ibanet.org/Rwanda-arbit...
ibanet.org
Rwanda arbitration case set to have long term influence on UK asylum policy
A dispute between the UK and Rwanda over a cancelled bilateral asylum deal is due to be heard at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in March. Commentators say it’s a case that could have long-term imp...
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Border Criminologies @bordercrim.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Listen to this podcast episode featuring some of our network members! @andrianifili.bsky.social @gee-manoharan.bsky.social @wellcometrust.bsky.social @aviddetention.bsky.social
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
With new EU deportation rules advancing this week — as the LIBE committee backs a version pushed by the far right — immigration detention and its violence are being normalised across borders. The same carceral logic harming thousands every year is expanding. Listen to this conversation 👇
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
🌍Today is International Women’s Day. Across the world, women are being celebrated. But UK government continue to lock people inside immigration detention centres. Women. Trans people. Non-binary people. Men.
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AVIDdetention @aviddetention.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
We’re excited that our animation Removed is screening today at @nnfilmhouse.bsky.social As immigration detention expands in the UK and globally, these creative spaces will open conversations and bring hidden realities to new audiences through art. If you are near,come & join: tinyurl.com/2zkzwrpp
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Focus on Labour Exploitation @focusonlabour.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Some in Government insist that modern slavery claims are being used to get in the way of deportation attempts. This narrative misses that in fact, claims of experiencing modern slavery are met with huge barriers in immigration detention.
labourexploitation.org
Barriers to Disclosure: A survivor of trafficking’s journey through the immigration process
Some in Government insist that modern slavery claims are being used to get in the way of deportation attempts. This narratives misses that in fact, claims of experiencing modern slavery are met with h...
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