On 22 September London FRFI joined the demonstration organised by No Borders to protest against the building of a second immigration prison at Gatwick airport. About 400 people marched from Crawley Town Centre to Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centre. The demonstration was part of a week of action and protest camp called by No Borders and supported by a wide range of organisations and individuals.
Tinsley House was the first purpose-built immigration detention centre in Britain. It was opened in 1996 and has a capacity of 135 people, including families and children, with 11,000 detainees going through it each year.
Next to Tinsley House a new removal centre called Brook House is being constructed, to hold 426 male and female detainees pending deportation.
There are ten Immigration Removal Centres in Britain. Seven are run by private companies contracted by the Home Office’s Border and Immigration Agency and three by the Prison Service. As of July 2007, these prisons have a total capacity of 2,506. However, the Labour government, which inherited 700 places when it took office in 1997, is aiming for a total of 4,000 places. In addition, there are many so-called Short-term Holding Facilities at ports and airports as well as at a number of Immigration Reporting Centres.
FRFI opposes all British immigration controls, recognising that under capitalism, these can never be anything other than racist.
No detention! No deportation! Close all immigration prisons!
