Turning Asylum Seekers into ‘Dangerous Criminals’: Experiences of the Criminal Justice System of those Seeking Sanctuary

Abstract

Since the events of 9/11 in the US in 2001 and, four years later, the 7/7 London bombings in the UK, warnings of terrorist attacks are high on the public agenda in many western countries. Politicians and tabloid press in the UK have continued to make direct and indirect connections between asylum seekers, terrorism and crime. This has increasingly resulted in harsh policy responses to restrict the movement of 'third-world' nationals, criminalisation of immigration and asylum policy, and making the violation of immigration laws punishable through criminal courts. This paper largely highlights the narratives of five asylum seekers who committed 'crime' by breaching immigration laws and were consequently treated as 'dangerous criminals' by the state authorities. More importantly it shows how these individuals experienced this treatment. The aim of this paper is to give voice to the victims of state abuse, claim space for victim agency, gather victim testimonies, challenge official explanations and in the process confront criminal and racist state practices.

Strip‐Searching for Nationality Documents

“…Monish Bhatia conducted interviews with asylum seekers about their experience of the immigration system in the UK. 100 When asked about strip-searching, many of her participants felt unable to discuss the experience in detail due to the distress and shame it had caused them. She did find that most of the Middle Eastern participants who were willing to discuss it briefly described the experience of being strip-searched as tantamount to torture.…”

Social Death: The (White) Racial Framing of the Calais ‘Jungle’ and ‘Illegal’ Migrants in the British Tabloids and Right-Wing Press

“…The category of 'illegal' migrant is a criminalised status because, it creates a forced racialised exclusion of those bracketed as 'illegal' from being law abiding and also removes them from law's protection -since they are legally non-existent and therefore have no legal rights granted to citizens -but at the time it confronts them with the law's disciplinary and control mechanisms (Cacho, 2012). So, while there is no appetite for protecting 'illegal' migrants and ('bogus') asylum seekers, there is nonetheless ferocious hunger to subject them to higher deterrence and punitive controls, an aspect captured by various scholars (for instance, see Weber and Pickering, 2011;Grewcock, 2010;Bhatia, 2014Bhatia, ,2015Khosravi, 2010;Canning, 2017;Griffiths, 2014;Aas and Bosworth, 2013). The same applies to those 'living' in the 'jungle'.…”

Borders, Boundaries, and Exclusion in the Icelandic Asylum System

“…"It is crucial to note that the prevalence of mental health issues amongst asylum seekers is often caused or exacerbated by the way they are treated by authorities, combined with the lack of provision for treating mental ill health. " 51 Worrying about family members in countries of origin also increases anxiety. Some participants in our study repeatedly described how the stress of the asylum process and waiting for resolution interfaced with their mental health struggles associated with personal experiences of traumatic events.…”