On 14 January around 100 men imprisoned at Harmondsworth and Brook House immigration removal centres, seeking asylum in Britain, staged a peaceful demonstration against attempts by the Home Office to forcibly deport them to France. The protest was violently repressed by prison guards using dogs, riot shields and teargas.
In August 2025 the British government announced the implementation of a ‘one in, one out’ agreement to ship people who make the dangerous Channel crossing to England back to France in exchange for other would-be asylum seekers previously vetted by the French authorities. By 5 January 2026, 193 migrants had been exchanged via this state-sponsored human trafficking arrangement; while many more waited in detention to be processed into the scheme.
Ten days before the protest, detainees had issued a Report on conditions and treatment at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre. In this they set out how they had come to Britain ‘in the pursuit of safety, dignity and a chance to live a peaceful life’ but that their treatment was so bad that they were now demanding the United Nations and human rights groups urgently investigate conditions.
The Labour government is continuing its drive to prove that it can be more draconian and racist towards would-be migrants than either the Conservatives or Reform UK. In November 2025 the Home Office published a viciously racist policy paper entitled Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, setting out plans for yet further attack migrants and asylum seekers. But as events at Harmondsworth and Brook House have shown, where there is increased repression, there will be increased resistance.
Solidarity with migrant and asylum-seeking prison resisters!
Nicki Jameson
