Stafford: Church awarded Sanctuary status

Stafford Welcomes Refugees
Jul 21st, 2021

MP Theo Clarke, Canon Michael Neylon with St Austin's parishioners and the Award.

Stafford Welcomes Refugees and Stafford Town of Sanctuary have announced their first award to St Austin's Catholic Church, which was given 'Church of Sanctuary' status on 16 July.

MP for Stafford Theo Clarke was welcomed by all to St Austin's Catholic Church to present Canon Michael Neylon with a commemorative plaque designed by Stafford Artist Gillie Nicholls, to celebrate the great work St. Austin's Church has done to welcome refugees into the community.

Stafford Welcomes Refugees, whose volunteers also work as 'Stafford Town of Sanctuary', part of the national organisation 'City of Sanctuary' who promote towns and cities to foster a welcoming attitude to all, with a large focus on refugees fleeing war, violence and persecution.

From the time the Syrian refugees arrived in Stafford under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Scheme, the Church has offered the use of its hall for social gatherings which used to happen on a regular basis. There would be opportunities to practice English and for the children to play as well as simply socialising with each other and the members of Stafford Welcomes Refugees. At Christmas time, parties were held for the children and Father Christmas bore a strong resemblance to Father Michael!

Theo Clarke was also presented with a letter to give to the Home Secretary signed by over 90 people. The signatures were mostly gathered at a one-day event in Stafford Town, by people who are increasingly concerned about the new Borders Bill and the lack of safe routes to the UK for people seeking sanctuary, especially those unaccompanied children and teenagers seeking to reunite with family members in the UK. All children fleeing persecution and violence deserve safe routes to reach safety and reunite with family members regardless of where they are located.

Key takeaways from the Nationality and Borders Bill

The Bill:

Threatens the fundamental right to seek asylum - the Bill divides refugees into Group 1 ('good') refugees or Group 2 refugees ('bad') based on how they have come to the UK.

The Bill will establish an inhumane and unlawful asylum system that differentiates and discriminates against refugees, depending on how they were forced to make their journey to find sanctuary.

Under this system, refugees would be categorised as 'Group 1' if they have travelled directly from the country or territory where their life or freedom is threatened and made an asylum claim without delay, and everyone else would be in 'Group 2'.

Most refugees would be classed as 'Group 2' and would be given a lesser protection status, different accommodation centres, no recourse to public funds and denied vital rights, including to family reunion.

This violates article 31 of the Refugee convention which states that countries should not penalise refugees on method of entry
Offers no safe routes for refugees to seek sanctuary in the UK.

Despite the New Plan for Immigration stating that the government's intention is to open safe and legal routes for refugees, this bill opens zero routes for refugees.

There is no safe route for unaccompanied refugee children or refugees in Europe.

Instead of expanding refugee family reunion after Brexit, the Bill further restricts family reunion rights based on how the family member in the UK has arrived.

There is no commitment to a target for refugee resettlement or how long this scheme will last. This will ultimately result in more refugees risking their lives in order to claim asylum in the UK.

Further restricts family reunion rights

Most refugees arriving in the UK would be classified as Group 2 refugees and can be treated differently by the Secretary of State or immigration officer, for example "whether leave to enter or remain is given to members of the refugee's family".

This is despite the UK already having restricted refugees access family reunion after leaving the EU last year.

95% of Safe Passage's clients who could reunite with family under EU law can no longer reunite under the UK's broken immigration rules.

Instead of further restricting family reunion, the UK should be seeking to expand the UK's refugee family reunion rules so that children don't risk their lives over the channel in order to reach family members here.

Declares those who have travelled to the UK 'inadmissible' to the UK.

An asylum claim made by someone who has a connection to a safe third state is inadmissible and cannot be considered under the Immigration Rules. There is no right to appeal.

Someone is considered to have a 'connection' to a safe third State if they could have accessed protection there. This will apply to all EU countries.

However, asylum seekers can also be removed to another safe third state even if that wasn't where the 'connection' was found to be.

Criminalises those seeking asylum

Asylum seekers can be criminalised for entering the UK irregularly and the Bill increases the sentence for assisting unlawful immigration or an asylum seeker - to life imprisonment. This could apply to asylum seekers that steer dinghies across the channel and reasonably to organisations such as the RNLI.

There are also changes to the way age assessments could be conducted, the possibility of offshore detention centres and the Home Secretary could have the power to 'punish' other countries if they do not accept returns from the UK by delaying visa applications from that country.