Our Management Committee member, Hyab Yohannes, considers what it would mean to “Decolonise Asylum” – countering the exclusive practices of othering, bordering and ordering.

Leah Cowan’s Border Nation (published by Pluto Press) is a short, sharp, incisive analysis of the colonial origins of borders, the violence of immigration control and the profit motive driving so much of immigration policy and practice.

There are quotable lines on every page of this short book, which manages to dig deep into the issues and link up weighty ideas while still being very accessible.

Today we have launched the new look Right to Remain Toolkit – our step-by-step guide to the UK asylum and immigration system!

A month ago, the Home Secretary Priti Patel announced her New Immigration Plan, with a lot of fanfare about delivering reformed asylum system.

Some aspects of the proposals are actually current policy, some are ideas that have been floated before, many will result in legal challenges. None are the changes that the asylum and immigration system needs.

Gina Antchandie from Croydon Council talks about the creative process of developing the Young Asylum Guide in collaboration with Lisa from Right to Remain and young unaccompanied minors.

At Right to Remain, solidarity is a key phrase and concept in our work. We have long grappled with how best to define it and how to deploy it meaningfully. We see solidarity as a guiding principle for our activities and theory of change – but does it actually resonate with those we work with?

We review Free To Be Me: Refugee Stories From the Lesbian Immigration Support Group.

The book, which is raising funds for the Manchester-based LISG, features stories from LISG members and volunteers – rich narratives of love, pain, brutal treatment, immense suffering, and survival.

This week, we are delighted to launch into the world a brand new online resource that we’ve been working on with Gina Antchandie of Croydon Council during these difficult Covid days: the young asylum guide.

Yes, well. It’s been quite a year.

Aside from, well, everything we’ve had a busy year recruiting new members of our Management Committee, appointing new roles within the Committee AND we’ve had three fab new staff members join us. That’s been a lot of zoom calls.

Lisa reviews Deporting Black Britons, by Luke de Norona. Through the stories and lives of four men, de Noronha explores the human impact of the UK’s deportation policy (and Jamaica’s compliance with it) and thematic aspects of state racism.