Britain’s ‘immigration removal centres’ are notorious for the abuse that goes on inside them. According to the End Heathrow Immigration Detention (EHID) campaign, nine detainees died between 1989 and 2017 at the Harmondsworth and Colnbrook detention centres just outside the airport, making them the deadliest across the UK detention system. Other issues reported from these centres include self-harm, abuse by staff and indefinite detention. Most of those deported on the recent and widely criticised charter flights to Jamaica were held there.
Now we have a government set on building the biggest prison for migrants ever to punish those whose only crime is to escape catastrophic climate change, persecution and conflict, or the negative effects of an unfair globalised economy which creates the demand for their labour with one hand but criminalises their movement with the other.
Our friends, workmates, neighbours and family without the ‘correct’ immigration papers end up in these places by getting caught during Home Office raids on workplaces, shops and homes. The Home Office vans we see out on the streets patrol our workspaces and neighbourhoods just as dog wardens patrolled our living spaces in the past, and they catch people in an equally demeaning manner. But as we have previously reported, they have also been faced down, including locally in Hounslow
Migrants are also caught out by checks when they try to get a job, rent a flat, see a doctor or get married. Public sector workers and landlords are thus turned into Home Office spies. Others are required to sign regularly at reporting centres and are then nabbed one day as they do so.
In London many of those caught are then locked up in Western Europe’s largest prison for migrants: the Harmondsworth Removal Centre, which houses 676 detainees and is conveniently located next door to Heathrow Airport. Its twin next door, Colnbrook, brings the total to over 1,000.
The new prison – Europe’s largest immigration detention centre
The new 1,060-place mega-prison will replace these two centres, which will be cleared to make way for the controversial expansion of the airport with a third runway. It will be built on fields bounded by Faggs Road, Hatton Road and the Duke of Northumberland’s River. For those of in local boroughs such as Hounslow, Hillingdon and Spelthorne, this is a local issue.
We’ve yet to see exactly where Labour’s next leader stands on the issue of immigration controls. And indeed, how far they’ll allow members to influence party policy in this field. In 2019 members passed a motion at the Labour Party’s annual conference in support of defending and extending free movement – thus removing the need to detain people. But it was not included in the manifesto, which limited itself to ending indefinite detention and some of the worst excesses of the immigration rules
Either way, if we wait until another election the new Heathrow detention camp will have been built already. After Brexit migrants will continue to be blamed for the country’s problems, and EU citizens arriving after 2020 will add to the number of “illegal workers.” The media will demand to ‘lock them up’ and the government will respond by proudly pointing to new detention centres.
What we can do to stop this
Hounslow and the surrounding areas have a proud history of resisting immigration controls and standing up for migrant rights – we remember for example the opposition in the 1970s to ‘virginity tests’ at the airport and the role of the Indian Workers Association, as recounted in this excellent documentary. We now need to stop this new monstrosity in its tracks. End Heathrow Immigration Detention (EHID) is a new campaign which has been set up to help do just that, working with local residents and workers. What you can do to support:
- Support the public meeting on Friday 28 February at 7pm at St Mary’s Church Hall, Hatton Road Bedfont.
- Invite an EHID speaker to your trade union meeting
- Sign up to EHID or get in touch to join their activities
- Write to your MP or local councillors to ask them to stop the building of the new detention centre and tell them why the Heathrow detention centre must end
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