Communal voices join HIAS+JCORE in call for refugee citizenship policy change

HIAS+JCORE and senior rabbis have joined almost 150 faith leaders and organisations in signing a letter to the Home Secretary, urging the UK government to reverse new guidance which will block refugees who arrived in this country irregularly from being able to receive citizenship. It is estimated that this decision could affect more than 70,000 refugees.

Signatories included Rabbi Igor Zinkov and Rabbi Anna Wolfson, Co-Chairs of the Conference of Liberal Rabbis and Cantors, Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen and Rabbi Kath Vardi, Co-Chairs of the Assembly of Reform Rabbis and Cantors, alongside HIAS+JCORE’s Executive Director Rabbi David Mason. The letter was also signed by the bishop of Dover, the president and vice-president of the Methodist Conference, the general secretary of the Baptist Union, and head of Islamic Relief UK.

Calling for the Government to “urgently reconsider the decision to effectively ban tens of thousands of refugees from ever becoming British citizens”, the letter stresses the importance of ensuring refugees are “welcomed and integrated into British life.” It continues by underlining that receiving citizenship is “not just a legal status” but “a tangible fulfilment of the promise of safety, dignity, and opportunity”.

While acknowledging the positive steps the Government has taken to address dysfunction in the UK’s asylum system, the letter goes on to express concern about the impact this policy change will have on integration and cohesion. Referencing the 2024 summer riots, it states that “it was only last August that violent mobs sought to burn refugees alive in a hotel”.

It proceeds to say: “Labelling refugees, who through no fault of their own have had to put their lives at risk on flimsy vessels, or have had to hide in the backs of lorries to reach safety on our shores, as a type of second class individual will simply breed division and distrust. It risks playing into a toxic politics that pits ‘us vs them’ and is then manipulated by the far right to bring hate and disorder to our streets.”

The letter follows HIAS+JCORE’s own statement on the change, which highlights the Jewish community’s own refugee experience. Both interventions come after an urgent question on the topic in the House of Lords from former Home Secretary David Blunkett last Wednesday. In the subsequent debate, veteran refugee campaigner Lord Dubs expressed his scepticism about the new policy’s effectiveness as a deterrent.