Together, our voices are stronger. These Walls Must Fall members and local communities coming together in solidarity to challenge immigration detention and stand against its expansion.

The UK Government is advancing plans to expand detention facilities at Haslar and Campsfield House. Together, these changes would increase the UK’s overall detention capacity by approximately 40%. This is not a minor adjustment, it is a major expansion of a system that causes proven harm to individuals, families, and communities.

As These Walls Must Fall, our work is rooted in lived experience. Many of our members have been detained. We have supported people inside and after release. We have seen the long-term impact on mental health, family life, and wellbeing. We know what detention does, and we are speaking up. 

This is why we approached the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Immigration Detention to request a dedicated meeting focused on the proposed expansion. We did not only want to submit written evidence, we asked for people with lived experience to speak directly to MPs.

The APPG confirmed they will host this meeting between October and December 2026. This will give us the chance to share real experiences with parliamentarians; the experiences that reports and statistics alone cannot convey. 

We reached out to other organisations and lived-experience networks to stand with us. Over nine organisations have already endorsed and backed our call. We continue to invite more groups to join so this campaign represents the broadest possible community voice.

Right to Remain is participating in the formal public inquiry into the expansion of Campsfield House. This ensures lived experience is represented in official legal and planning processes, while our voices, and grassroots groups’ voices, are not excluded from decision making. 

In the meantime we are gathering strong evidence-based points and lived-experience testimonies to present to MPs at the APPG meeting. We will invite representatives from supporting organisations to join us. 

A public petition has been circulated to collect signatures opposing the expansion too. We hope we can demonstrate broad community opposition voices from all over the UK to decision-makers. 

Detention causes long-term harm to mental health and family relationships. Expansion means more people including members of our communities will be placed in a system that is already widely criticised only to be  released later mentally damaged. These decisions that are being made now will affect our community’s lives for many years to come.

We believe that we are experts. We understand reality better than anyone else and our voices must lead, not follow. This campaign is about more than opposing new buildings. It is about making sure no one is spoken about without being heard. We have made important progress, but the work is only just beginning. We are saying no to detention expansion.

In solidarity,

These Walls Must Fall