These Walls Must Fall, our lived-experience-led campaigners, issued the following statement in response to the suspension of the refugee family reunion route.  

As These Walls Must Fall, we are utterly disheartened and devastated by the sudden suspension of the refugee family reunion route.

Most of us have been or were trapped in the asylum system for years, 3 years, 8 years, even more than a decade, facing endless reporting at hostile centres and police stations, surviving detention, and being treated like criminals for simply seeking safety. We left our homes because of war, violence, and persecution. We carry trauma from those journeys, yet the system here is designed to break us further.

During Covid, we were told to be patient, to understand the Home Office backlog, to sacrifice our wellbeing and wait in hope that one day we would be reunited with our children and family members. When that day finally came and refugee status was granted, instead of joy, we often faced homelessness, forced to choose between the streets or monitored shared accommodation.

It has never been easy for newly recognised refugees, especially for parents separated from their children and spouses torn apart. We are torn between rebuilding our lives, studying, working, surviving, and trying to save money for costly family reunion applications. Many of us cannot find work easily, with years-long gaps on our CVs to explain to prospective employers. When we manage to rent, houses are bare of carpets, beds, or basic utensils, but still we work hard, fuelled only by the dream of bringing our children and spouses to safety.

Yet the sudden suspension of the rule  has slammed the door in our faces, and left us in yet another cruel uncertainty. Families who have already suffered years of forced separation are told to apply within 24 hours, without legal aid, without affordable solicitors, without logic or compassion. It is inhumane. It is a policy designed to divide families and to deny children the right to grow up with their parents and the spouses to start rebuilding their family.

We carry immense guilt for leaving our children and spouses behind, but we had no choice. Now, after years of waiting, our children, wives and husbands are being pushed further away. Some children have turned 18 during this time, robbed of the chance to reunite with their parents. The UK prides itself on protecting children and family life, yet this cruel law forces refugee parents into neglect by policy.

“This is sad and painful. I have been looking forward to meeting my wife and kids, and now this. How am I going to live without them? I cannot even go home to visit. Home Office, please reverse this decision.” – Mr. Mugabe, Uganda

“Since I got refugee status, I’ve been working day and night in the NHS as a healthcare assistant. I rented a three-bedroom home, paying £1,200, preparing for my kids to come. The only thing left was solicitor fees. Now, all my past traumas are triggered again.” – Mr. Foster, Nigeria

“We are truly thankful to GMIAU, who at the last minute put aside their urgent cases to help as many people as they could, lodging the last application at 14:56. Many, sadly, did not make it.” – Maggy Moyo, These Walls Must Fall

We, These Walls Must Fall, speak on behalf of countless refugees: we are the ones who know this painful journey because we live it. No one leaves home willingly unless their lives are in danger. Our families are the only comfort we have, yet some of our children and family members remain at risk of abuse and hardship while we are made helpless by hostile policies.

As campaigners deeply committed to justice and solidarity, we find this newly imposed system, of having to meet requirements under existing family migration rules, both absurd and cruelly out of reach. Expecting newly granted refugees, who often arrive with no savings, no employment history, and facing systemic barriers to work, to meet minimum income thresholds is a preposterous expectation. For example, Mr. Foster is already paying £1,200 a month for accommodation to ensure that when he is reunited with his family, they have a safe home. Yet, on top of this, he is now confronted with high legal fees for the applications, and only if his income meets the strict criteria and other unreasonable considerations demanded by the family application process. The additional burden of covering solicitors’ fees, on top of application and health surcharge costs, lays bare the inherent inequity of the scheme. This isn’t about ensuring integration or safeguarding resources; it’s about erecting new barriers that penalise those who have already survived unimaginable hardship

This suspension of the refugee family reunion route must be reversed. Family reunion is not a luxury, it is a basic human right. The UK government must restore humanity and dignity by ensuring refugees can live with their children and loved ones immediately.

End the cruelty. Restore family reunion. Bring our children home.

Signed,

These Walls Must Fall