The Wages of Fear: Risk, Safety and Undocumented Work

This report presents a study of precarious working conditions experienced by undocumented workers in the north of England. It begins by exploring the importance of notions of labour market flexibility and flexicurity in government and trans-national government policy making. It argues that the exploitation of migrant workers and undocumented workers is structured by these labour market conditions. Second, it utilises interview data to consider in detail this structural subordination, arguing that, combined with the at times contradictory imperatives of immigration policy, the precariousness of undocumented workers acts as a disciplinary tool. Finally, it indicates that, in this context, the occupational risks to which undocumented workers are exposed need to be understood in terms of the highly dangerous and violent consequences experienced by those workers

Britain's 'civilising project': community cohesion and core values

A critical examination of the community cohesion agenda

After Lawrence: racial violence and policing in the UK

As two men are convicted of the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, nineteen years ago, the author draws on research being carried out by the Institute of Race Relations showing both shifts and continuities in patterns of racist attacks. In doing so it considers the impacts and legacies of the Macpherson Report

Detained and Denied: the clinical care of immigration detainees living with HIV

This report presents the findings of an investigation into the clinical care of immigration detainees living with HIV in the UK, examining the cases of 35 people detained for immigration purposes in an eighteen-month period

Racial violence and the Brexit state

Research by the Institute of Race Relations, into over one hundred incidents of racial violence reported in the mainstream media in the month after the 2016 EU referendum, indicates that the ‘spike’ in such attacks has to be understood in terms of the climate created not just during the referendum debate, but also in the policies and programmes of successive governments preceding it. Political figures and senior criminal justice system personnel, who have recently condemned the violence, analyse it in terms of already given media frameworks about ‘hate crime’: bigoted individuals are to blame; this is a law-and-order issue not a socially based problem and so on – thus avoiding any responsibility for legitimising racist violence. The research also reveals the central role of the police, at the expense of community groups’ or victims’ voices, in defining when and what racist violence is deemed newsworthy

The war on welfare and the war on asylum

This articles examines the parallels between the UK government’s ‘war’ on welfare and ‘war’ on asylum, in terms of the creation of widespread destitution and the rhetoric which punishes those depicted as ‘bogus’. In both cases, large private corporations now control people’s fates, whilst a ‘disturbed morality’ encourages the wider public to support such a coercive system and inform on our neighbours

Embedded Expertise and the New Terrorism

A critical examination of the 'new terrorism' thesis

Situating Immigration Fees in 21st Century Britain

Introduction to the Report:The purpose of this report is to illustrate the cost – in the broadest sense – of obtaining and renewing a visa in the UK and the impact this has on migrants’ lives.We have been aware for a long time that the cost of the visa application/renewal process is a serious issue for many of our members. We came to learn from our members that the Covid pandemic had exacerbated the impact that the process was having on them, and we felt that it was now the appropriate time to fully investigate the issue.The aim was to understand how immigration costs affect different aspects of migrants’ lives, to provide a space for them to share their thoughts and worries about the fees, and to learn about what changes they wanted to see. This allowed us to identify key problems and to shape our campaign to end extortionate visa fees.Before we look further at the impact of visa fees on migrants, we want to set out a brief explanation of key aspects of how the visa system works in the UK and its history and context

Towards a Political Economy of Charging Regimes: Fines, Fees and Force in UK Immigration Control

Charging regimes and the extraction of revenue are integral components of immigration control in the United Kingdom. However, while these have been analysed in their individual guises, to date, there has been little substantive analysis bringing these regimes together and locating them at the centre of its enquiry. Drawing on data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this paper consequently examines the functions of charging regimes as a distinct form of statecraft, focusing its attention on UK Visas and Immigration fees and charges, carrier sanctions, charges related to accessing services and civil penalties administered though immigration enforcement. Analysing their historical roots and their contemporary prevalence, it suggests that they contribute to a political economy of financial power which has significant implications for understandings of criminalisation and immigration enforcement

Entitlement and belonging: social restructuring and multicultural Britain

In May 2016, two flagship measures of the current Conservative UK government, the Housing and Planning Act 2016 and the Immigration Act 2016 were passed. Based on research carried out before the Acts’ passage, the article shows how both pieces of legislation work in tandem to reinforce and exacerbate a fundamental restructuring of the societal landscape, which will particularly impact on multiracial, inner-city and poor communities. They continue a process in which social entitlements are ever more codified and restricted, rights seen as linked to (and dependent on) responsibilities, with certain categories of persons – undocumented workers, asylum seekers – excluded from some rights altogether. As the state increasingly divests itself of accountability for its actions, it is placing yet more onus on third-sector organisations to become accountable, not to those accessing their services, but to government targets and policies