“When I read the card, ‘you are not forgotten’, in that time, I can’t control my tears, thanks for that, am feel alone, after read the greeting, am feel better. Thank you so much.”
What is detention?
In the UK, immigration detention involves being locked up in prison-like conditions without time limit. The decision to detain is made by a civil servant and doesn’t go before a judge. Anyone subject to immigration control can be detained, and many people in detention came here to seek safety.
Immigration detention is cruel, unjust, and a total failure to respect human dignity.
What are the dangers of detention?
Detention is extremely traumatic and even a short period of detention does long-term damage to mental health. We support many torture survivors who have been detained and they explain that detention is like being tortured all over again.
People’s rights and dignity are routinely abused in immigration detention, as we highlighted last year in our report After Brook House: continued abuse in immigration detention.
Additionally, it is really hard to get access to justice in immigration detention, as we show in our recent report Accessing legal advice in detention: becoming an impossibility. This is really dangerous. People are facing removal to places their lives could be in danger, and they have no meaningful way of challenging this.
Detention theoretically exists to administer immigration procedures – most often to remove people. Detention very often means that people are denied access to legal advice, or can’t access support they badly need, at the exact times they need it most.
Read more about accessing legal advice in detention
Right now, the government is working to expand immigration detention. This would have such a destructive impact on so many people’s lives.
We need to end immigration detention and build a system that respects people’s dignity and supports them.
Will you write a card for people held in immigration detention this Christmas?
The people we support find a great deal of support from our volunteer social visitors as a way of reconnecting with the world outside detention.
That’s why this Christmas, we’re inviting you to show your solidarity and support with people held in immigration detention by sending messages of comfort, connection, and encouragement.
Here are our top tips:
- Use a friendly, generic initial address such as ‘Dear Friend’.
- Some of the people we accompany will be victims of torture or trafficking, others will have fled conflict zones or their homes to seek asylum in the UK, and all will be going through a difficult and isolating time. Your message should be one of solidarity and accompaniment for those who are going through this particularly difficult time.
- We meet and accompany people of all faiths and none, so don’t assume your card will be received by a Catholic or Christian. We advise you not to include any overtly religious messages that could be alienating to someone depending on their faith or nationality.
- However, wishing someone a Merry Christmas or telling someone that you will remember them in your prayers is more than OK.
- Please don’t include your full name or contact details in the card
Cards should be sent to the JRS UK office and we will distribute them in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Please leave your Christmas card envelopes unsealed and place them in a second sealed envelope to post them to JRS UK.
In order for us to distribute your card we will need to receive it by Monday 8th December.
Please send your cards to: JRS Christmas Cards 2025, JRS UK, The Hurtado Jesuit Centre, 2 Chandler Street, London, E1W 2QT.
If you have any questions or would like some more information, then please do get in touch: uk@jrs.net
