What We Achieved in 2024

In the last year, our incredible staff and volunteers achieved so much for people in immigration detention.

We couldn’t have done it without the commitment and compassion of our supporters, which is why all of us at Detention Action would like to share with you our highlights of 2024!

You can donate here to help us continue our vital work in 2025 and beyond.

For more than two years, people seeking asylum endured the threat of being sent 4,000 miles around the world, putting them at serious risk of human rights violations. And since it was announced, we were determined to stop the cruel and costly Rwanda plan. 

We were part of the first, landmark legal action against the policy. We spoke out against the legislation propping up the policy (the so-called Safety of Rwanda Act). We made a successful urgent appeal to the UN’s Special Rapporteurs on trafficking, torture and the human rights of migrants. We petitioned the government and targeted the airlines taking money to deliver people into danger. 

In May, the Home Office carried out raids across the country, rounding up more than 100 people and detaining them unjustly for more than a month. Our amazing Casework Team was a lifeline for 32 of the people detained, providing emotional support and advice and connecting them to qualified lawyers. All of those detained were later released.

In July, the policy was finally abandoned. The previous government may have wasted more than £715 million on the dangerous deal but together we made sure that no one seeking asylum was sent by force to Rwanda.

Beyond providing direct support to people in detention, our Casework Service informed our campaigns work, our political engagement and legal challenges. By making wide use of evidence gathered through our Casework Service, we made sure our work always reflected the needs of people in detention.

We worked with human rights lawyers on a challenge to make emergency Home Office accommodation available to more people outside detention, and we gave evidence to parliamentary consultations on a range of issues, including the serious failures of anti-trafficking safeguards for people in detention.

Now in its 11th year, our incredible Community Support Project continues to prove the value and positive impact of community-based support over indefinite detention.

Every day, the support offered by our staff is making a real difference to people’s journeys from custody into community living.

With none of our clients reoffending in the last year, the impact of community-based alternatives to detention is clearer than ever.

Our lived experience network, Allies for Justice, worked with the British Institute of Human Rights to run two new workshops, helping people with lived experience of the migration system to better understand their human rights.

Allies for Justice continued to bring the vital insights of lived experience to our work and that of the wider sector. This included contributing to a cross-sector Lived Experience Coalition event, helping others with lived experience of the migration system to develop their campaigns and advocacy.

One of our volunteers with lived experience of detention said:

“My experiences at Detention Action have been absolutely magnificent, thanks to the support I have received – and am still receiving – for which I am immensely grateful.

“It has been a remarkable journey volunteering with Detention Action, because I have been engaging and learning and enhancing my knowledge further in numerous ways.

“I sincerely applaud the Detention Action staff.”

CAMPAIGNS AND ADVOCACY

This year, we were appalled to see a minority of British people take to the streets and carry out acts of racism and violence against those seeking safety and stability in the UK.

We know that most people in the UK stand with migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum. That’s why we worked hard this year to make sure your voices are heard, in the media, online and in the Houses of Parliament.

This included media coverage of our work in The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, iNews, BBC, Channel 4 News and CNN.

In May, more than 50,000 people signed our petition against the cruel UK-Rwanda plan, before the policy was abandoned in July.

And, with conditions in detention worsening and government plans for even more people to be detained, thousands of people this year backed our urgent call for a 28 day time limit on immigration detention.

After the general election, we worked with Bail for Immigration Detainees, Medical Justice and ILPA to create a new series of briefings on immigration detention. Our supporters emailed the briefings to 331 MPs, introducing them to fundamental facts about detention and the harm it causes, as well as our proposals for change.

You can download the briefings here and you can email them to your own MP here!

We couldn’t have achieved any of this without the generosity of our supporters and funders.

This year, we returned to the London Legal Walk, with staff and volunteers pacing the city streets to raise more than £3,000!

In 2024, we were extremely grateful to receive new funding, including grants from: