I am pledging to run for an incredibly sweaty 13.1 miles for BID this May, grimacing and wheezing in an undignified fashion across the flatlands of Hackney. BID is a cause worthy of all that, because every pound will help people to be released from immigration detention, a hellish place rife with abuse and injustices.

Since 1999 BID have supported over 46,000 people to get out of immigration detention and have borne witness to and evidenced many gross abuses of state power.

In the UK the Home Office have the power to lock people up indefinitely, without trial for the purpose of immigration control. However as evidenced by the Windrush Scandal, they have a history of terrible decision making with horrific consequences. Last year they paid out £9.3 million of compensation to people they wrongfully detained.

People who have lived in this country for years, and never broken a law, can suddenly find themselves in detention. People are also detained because they have been convicted of a criminal offence, and served a sentence. Yet, at the moment a UK Citizen would leave prison to join their family and friends, those without immigration status can remain detained indefinitely, including vulnerable people who cannot be deported. In neither situation are the stated aims of these processes met.

The existence of detention is also completely unnecessary. Even if you accept the rationale for immigration detention existing, there are many alternatives that are proven to be both cheaper for the taxpayer, and far more humane* **. So why maintain a system that is so wasteful of life and resources? This is another layer of injustice.

What remains is a racist, abusive, and wasteful system of immigration detention with no benefit to society.

Please donate so that BID can carry on shining a light on the darkest corner of our legal system, fighting structural racism, and restoring liberty to people detained for the simple reason of the circumstances of their birth.

And, far less importantly, to justify my pain, sweat, and probably tears.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

* See, for example, https://detentionaction.org.uk/community-support-project/

** The vast majority of migrants without permission to stay who are known to the Home Office are not in detention, but living 'in the community' in their own accommodation, which is known as 'immigration bail'. Although this system is far from perfect - human rights abuses abound again - a very large majority of people on bail comply with the conditions the Home Office place on their freedom, such as regularly reporting to a police station. It is much more humane and less harmful than immigration detention, and much less costly.