Hostile environment
The phrase 'Hostile Environment' is used a lot. But what does it mean exactly?
In May 2012, the then Home Secretary Theresa May said in a Telegraph interview: "The aim is to create here in Britain a really hostile environment for illegal migration... What we don't want is a situation where people think that they can come here and overstay because they're able to access everything they need."
The 'Hostile Environment' is a set of measures, both administrative and legislative, to make life so miserable for anyone without immigration status, that they will 'self-remove'.
It includes limiting access to employment, housing, healthcare, confiscating a driving licence, freezing bank accounts, restricting rights of appeal against the Home Office's decisions.
At the same time rules are made ever more complex (they have been called Byzantine in the Court of Appeal). And the Home Office has a tendency to appeal decisions then delay the appeal process unnecessarily, and there is even a history of non-compliance with orders of the courts.
After the resignation of Home Secretary Amber Rudd following the Windrush scandal in April 2018, her successor Home Secretary Sajid Javid attempted to rename the 'Hostile Environment' to the 'Compliant Environment'. However, the same issues have continued to exist, nothing has changed.
Cruel, paranoid, failing: inside the Home Office, The long read by Daniel Trilling.
"Something is badly wrong at the heart of one of Britain's most important ministries. How did it become so broken?"
Why is this relevant for EU citizens?
After the Settled Status deadline of 30 June 2021, any EU citizen or their non-EU family member who has not applied for pre-settled or settled status will face the full force of the Hostile Environment.
On top of that they will have lost their lawful status in the UK, and can be subject to removal. Brandon Lewis confirmed this in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt in October 2019.
We argue these immensely unjust and inhumane laws should be revoked for all - level up citizens' rights instead of creating a race to the bottom for all.
Windrush Lessons Learned Review by Wendy Williams
Windrush Lessons Learned Review: progress update
Our submission to the Windrush review
