Posted on by unisresistbordercontrols@gmail.com

URBC Statement: New Ways of Working

Since Unis Resist Border Controls (URBC) was established in March 2016, we have provided voluntary casework support for migrant staff and students impacted by the Hostile Environment policy and UK’s draconian border controls both within and outside of the university. In the course of providing voluntary and free casework, we have concluded several high profile and successful campaigns, Shiromini Satkanurajah, Ahmed Sedeeq (#LetAhmedStay), and Riham Sheble (#LetRihamStay) along with helping both migrant university staff and students in a private capacity. These campaigns have helped underscore how Hostile Environment policy operates both within the university and intersect with other issues, particularly health and disability. 

Our casework surgeries and campaigns have helped to inform our knowledge of the changing manner of Hostile Environment policy in higher education & in other environments. However, casework has taken the bulk of our time, meaning we have had less capacity to craft new strategies to help migrant students, migrant university workers and their allies in launching a united force in ending Hostile Environment policy as practised within our universities. This is why URBC members believe we must cultivate a new direction as immigration policies are increasingly becoming more stringent and attacks on migrants, asylum seekers and undocumented people are so thoroughly mainstreamed that they prompted the race riots we witnessed in August 2024.  

New Direction

We have recently received an award from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) Grassroots Movement fund, which will enable URBC to take a new direction as an organisation. With the funding provided to us, we are looking to take on group cases that touch on the following themes affecting migrant students and/or migrant staff: 

  1. Disability issues
  2. IHS fee hikes
  3. Free speech issues, e.g., where visa status is weaponised by an institution
  4. Pushing back on more intrusive surveillance devices used for attendance monitoring. 

Per our Manifesto and Code of Conduct & COVID Policies, URBC reserves the right to turn down any casework.

New Way of Working

URBC is a volunteer-led grassroots organisation. This means that we must protect our members’ physical and mental health in order to ensure that we can continue our work. We therefore have limited capacity for individual casework and other activities we undertake. Overworking and burning out our members does not advance our cause.

In this spirit, we have a new way of working.

Casework

  1. We will no longer take on individual casework at this time. Instead, casework will involve group cases of 4 or migrant students in UK higher education that could be used to launch a legal case as listed in the New Direction section. 
  2. To address community needs, we are offering a Casework Surgery once every two months, starting in November – book here. 
  3. We will use this time to launch a toolkit geared for university staff and students, teaching them the methods we have honed in launching successful individual campaigns. Additionally, we will resume online and in-person workshops during the year to answer questions and get students, staff and other abolitionist skilled up concerning the Hostile Environment policy in UK higher education. 
  4. Since late 2023, we have implemented a Casework Agreement Form to set appropriate expectations for both URBC and those who solicit support from us. The purpose of the Casework Agreement Form is to ensure that the casework we take meets the merits of our mission and that our members avoid unmanageable workloads.

Communications

  1. We maintain a 3–7 working day turnaround for emails (except for active cases). 
  2. All communications must comply with our Code of Conduct & COVID Policies.

Workshops, Consultancy, & Other Collaborations

  1. We now require advance booking of workshops and other events facilitation. This can be requested through our Workshop Inquiry Form.
  2. All events must comply with our Code of Conduct & COVID Policies.

We are excited by this new direction that URBC is embarking upon. URBC looks forward to continuing our mission to end Hostile Environment in the university and beyond.