The Invisible Prison Refugees Inhabit

Anonymous Contributor:
When I saw these images of Priti Patel, I thought that’s just how I imagine the face of the Home Office – its double standards, its hypocrisy and the fear that it instils – how it classifies refugees as ‘deserving’ or ‘underserving’, according to the colour of their skin. If you ask me what I dread, I would say: first the Syrian government, and second the Home Office.
“The Home Office places refugees in an invisible open prison, through the deliberate cruelty they inflict.”
It is quite sad because people seek refugee status through hope, and those hopes are crushed through cruelty. It is a kind of horror that we feel when we think of Home Office. It has become even worse as the work of the Home Office has been outsourced. Their responsibilities of monitoring and surveilling us have been delegated to ordinary people, like landlords, employers, public services carrying out Right to Work checks – who are now forced to act like police and ask for our status, our ID, for proof to right to access public services. It is not unlike a police state. It is not unlike the Syria so many fled and so many are now fleeing in Ukraine. Everyone is an immigration officer.  Yet unless you have been in the system, this suffering and cruelty is invisible.

‘Turn Back’ artwork by Wefail

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This material is part of the Covid Chronicles from the Margins project, funded by The Open University and The Hague. The project aims to highlight the impact of the pandemic on refugees, asylum seekers & undocumented migrants.

This item can also be found on the Covid Chronicles website.

匿名贡献者：当我目睹普里蒂·帕特尔（Priti Patel）的照片时，我想到的正是我对内政部的想象——其双重标准、其伪善以及它所灌输的恐惧——它如何根据难民肌肤之色将其归类为‘应得’或‘不应得’。若问我所惧怕的是什么，我答曰：首当其冲的是叙利亚政府，次之则是内政部。
“内政部将难民置于一种无形的大监狱之中，通过他们故意施加的残酷手段。”
这实在令人悲哀，因为人们怀着希望寻求难民身份，而这些希望却在残酷中被碾碎。这种恐惧是我们想到内政部时所感受到的。随着内政部工作的外包，情况更是恶化。其监控和监视我们的责任已委托给普通人，如房东、雇主、进行工作权检查的公共服务部门——他们现在被迫扮演警察的角色，询问我们的身份、我们的身份证件，以及获取公共服务的权利证明。这并不亚于一个警察国家。它也不亚于许多逃离者和现在仍在逃离的乌克兰的叙利亚。每个人都成了移民官。然而，除非你亲历其境，这种苦难和残酷是隐形的。
‘Turn Back’ 艺术作品，作者 Wefail
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此材料是《边缘的COVID编年史》项目的一部分，该项目由开放大学和海牙资助。该项目旨在强调疫情对难民、寻求庇护者和无证移民的影响。
此项目物品也可在COVID编年史网站上找到。