Today (Monday 13th June), Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) has launched a Crowd Justice campaign aimed at securing funding for their vital Separated Families project. Details can be found at https://www.crowdjustice.co.uk/case/bid/
Each year, BID helps reunite around 100 families who have been torn apart by the horrors of immigration detention. Every year, the government detains over 30,000 people for immigration purposes, routinely separating mothers and fathers from their children. Losing a parent to detention – never knowing how long they will be gone for – is devastating for a child. That’s why BID has a special team dedicated to providing parents who have been detained away from their children with legal advice and representation to help them apply for bail and to challenge their deportation.
BID’s Crowd Justice appeal is seeking to raise an initial £5000 to help fund the Separated Families project over the next 12 months. £5000 would be enough for BID to help reunite 20 families devastated by immigration detention.
Commenting on the appeal, BID Director Celia Clarke said:
“I’m really excited to be launching this appeal on Crowd Justice. All the people we help at BID need legal advice and support. But when we hear about cases of mothers and fathers being locked up away from their children we know all too well how vital it is that quick action is taken to help put the pieces back together.
“Having a parent ripped from your life is really unimaginable for any child. Yet that is what we see the government do time and again with their immigration detention regime. BID’s Separated Families project aims to give parents in detention legal advice and representation to help them apply for bail and to challenge deportation orders.
“Last year, BID helped reunite 110 families. But we know there are hundreds, maybe thousands more families who have been torn apart by detention. Without our help, many of those parents will never have access to legal advice, will never be able to challenge their detention and find a way back to their families.
“We hope that this appeal will help fund our vital work for another year, and we hope that the public will give generously so that BID can carry on reuniting parents with their children.”
