At 2am on 2 August 2020, a crowd of asylum seekers gathered outside a hotel in the West Midlands, protesting against their mistreatment and racist abuse by Serco staff, following a particularly egregious example of this behaviour. Serco is one of the three private security companies contracted by the Home Office to take charge of migrant and asylum housing, and is currently using the first few floors of the hotel as ‘temporary’ accommodation for asylum seekers. Recent press coverage of migrants arriving by boat in southern England has been seized on by far-right groups to target these locations where asylum seekers are being housed, adding another level of fear to the lives of the already traumatised residents. FRFI supporters spoke to some of those protesting against their treatment.
People are only supposed to be in this temporary accommodation for about three weeks while they await the outcome of their cases. But some of the residents in the hotel have been there for over 11 months already. That’s 11 months crammed into a one-person room with two other people, sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Some residents complained of rooms with bugs and mould causing health problems. Every day they are given just chips or rice, unable to cook or even buy their own food; financial support slashed. And on top of all this, the residents are getting racist hostility from the Serco staff: they are constantly talked down to, told they cannot ‘come to my country and complain’ and are threatened with deportation.
As well as the conditions causing physical health issues; being treated like this has a devastating impact on residents’ mental health. Sat in the park just outside, the day after this initial protest, we spoke to the residents. One young man talked frankly about wanting to kill himself; unable to carry on in these conditions and hoping that martyring himself would draw attention to the cause. Everyone there assured him that they must carry on living to struggle for their asylum case. His friends said they would watch him and take care of him. Stories like this are common and residents described it as torture, but despite their great need the residents are told they cannot receive any tests or therapy. They are told that this is because they have no addresses. But they only have no addresses yet because of the hostile, neglectful and racist approach of the Home Office. Some residents telling us it felt like just an extension of detention inside Britain’s racist immigration prisons.
Whenever the residents try and leave the hotel, they are interrogated by the Serco staff. They are accused of trying to work and earn money, something Britain’s racist immigration laws prevent them from doing. Many of the asylum seekers staying in the hotel are skilled and qualified; we met former firemen, IT staff and cooks. They are shocked that they are not allowed to work and contribute to the economy.
Right-wing organisation Britain First is now targeting the hotels and other facilities which are being used to house asylum seekers and there have been attacks reported in London, Birmingham and Essex. FRFI stands in solidarity with all migrants against both these freelance fascist thugs and the racist British state which inspires their hatred.
