Immigration detention is the practice of holding people – often for indefinite periods – for administrative immigration purposes. In the UK, thousands of people seeking safety, stability, or a new start are detained in prison-like settings without a clear timeframe for release. Many have survived trauma, conflict, persecution, or exploitation. Detention compounds that harm and strips away dignity. 

As a Jewish organisation, we are acutely aware of our community’s history of displacement, statelessness, and the dangers of systems that treat people as problems rather than as human beings. Our commitment is shaped by a tradition that insists on compassion for the stranger and demands that justice be rooted in human dignity. 

Detention in the UK has a long record of human rights violations, including physical and psychological harm, family separation, and institutional abuse. Detention is also ineffective. There is little evidence that it deters irregular migration; instead, it drives people underground or onto more dangerous routes. It is also vastly more expensive than community‑based approaches, despite most people eventually being released. 

Reforms within the detention system – including a 28‑day statutory time limit on detention and proper safeguards for vulnerable people – are vital. At René Cassin, we also focus on advocating for community-centred alternatives to detention that allow people to live freely while resolving their immigration case. These programmes prioritise stability, dignity, and wellbeing, rather than punishment. 

Jewish bloc at Manston protest, 2022

We are proud members of the Detention Forum, working collaboratively with organisations across the UK to challenge the overuse of immigration detention and promote credible, humane alternatives. 

Through this coalition, our work includes: 

• Campaigning for a 28‑day time limit on detention 

• Advocating for community‑based alternatives grounded in dignity and care 

• Ensuring women, LGBTQ+ people, and other vulnerable groups are protected 

• Bringing a Jewish human rights voice into national policy conversations 

• Mobilising Jewish communities to support individuals affected by detention, including through visitor groups and local organising 

The experience of immigration detention in the UK is shaped by the history of Jewish refugees who fled Nazi persecution only to be interned on the Isle of Man during the Second World War. The trauma of escaping persecution was compounded by the suspicion and confinement they many Jews were treated with on British soil. Their detention was driven not by evidence, but by a public and political discourse that demonised foreigners and portrayed Jews as exploiting British good will. Today’s narratives that frame asylum seekers as a threat are nothing new, merely a continuation of what Jews experienced against the backdrop of the Holocaust. This legacy is a reminder of how quickly fear‑based policy can strip people of dignity, safety, and belonging – and why we are compelled to challenge systems that repeat these patterns.