The no borders detainee support group is part of the London no borders network.
We directly support the struggles of migrants and refugees outside and inside the detention centres
We offer practical help to people in immigration detention and/or those threatened with deportation, our aim is to work in solidarity with migrants and refugees and to empower their own struggles.
An important distinction between our activities and those of most other visitors groups is that we actively campaign to get people out of detention and to assist them in their asylum claims. We are not lawyers and are not able to offer legal advice but we work in cooperation with a number of different organisations to extend the networks of support available to those inside and outside of detention.
We encourage self-help and welcome the involvement of friends and families, community groups, church groups etc. Many of the detainees have no support other than us.
We are not solicitors - we are not qualified / allowed to give legal advice, but we provide people with general information on what they can do and help them to get in contact with good solicitors, independent doctors, MPs and others who can help.
Through regular visiting and phone contact with detainees we help people to access proper legal and medical support, we also campaign to stop deportations, monitor abuses within the detention centres, support self organised resistance within the detention centres – such as hunger strikes and other forms of protest- and to further detainees ability to advocate on their own behalf. We work at a number of different levels to publicise the struggles of individual detainees and the situation with immigration in general.
Training and induction day for people interested in joining the detainee support group:
If you are interested in visiting people in detention and want to find out what this is like and how to go about it we have a training day coming up
Saturday august 26th at LARC – London Action Resource Centre
12pm -4pm
Workshop in two parts
12 – 2pm
Practical skills for visiting and support work:
Hear directly from ex – detainees their experience in detention, an over view of the detention and asylum system, what to expect when visiting, basic guidelines for visiting and offering support, networks of support and accessing useful information, how to stop a deportation.
2.30pm- 4pm
Emotional skills for visiting and support work:
Identifying your limits and capabilities in support work, issues that come up in working with detainees, skills for stress management, signs of burn out, working towards sustainable activism.
Useful skills for working in detainee support
The desire to assist people inside and outside of detention to access practical help; to empower them to help them selves
Being a good listener
Having good personal boundaries or some counselling experience
Being aware that detainee support involves working with people who have experienced traumatic events and who are often in an extremely stressful situation
Being able to take the initiative in networking with other groups in seeking legal/medical/press/lobbying support
Being clear about how much time and energy you have to contribute to detainee support.
All levels of involvement are welcome, but we encourage people to respect their own limits and not to over commit.