Afterword: The Refugee Tales Walking Inquiry into Immigration Detention

Abstract

The purpose of this afterword is to provide an update on the recent actions of the Refugee Tales project against the background of new developments in UK policies on asylum and immigration. The afterword reports on the parliamentary launch of the Refugee Tales Walking Inquiry into Immigration Detention. It then considers the implications of the UK government’s proposal to offshore asylum processing to Rwanda and, more broadly, of the new powers to detain and deport established by the Illegal Migration Bill. The afterword details the development, process, and findings of the Walking Inquiry and shows how those findings relate to and extend the remit of the official Public Inquiry into ‘the mistreatment of individuals who were detained at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre in 2017’. In conclusion, it comments on the importance of Refugee Tales’ practice of walking, as a process of collective action and deliberation, and as counter to the politics of hostility.

Keywords

• asylum
• detention
• hostile environment
• walking