COMPASSION ALONGSIDE HOSTILITY The evolution of

In the context of the 400th anniversary of the British Province, JRS UK , celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this year, seems like the toddler in the family of Jesuit works! The timeline of its somewhat nomadic existence, which might seem fitting for such a work, shows how it has responded to the changing political attitude towards immigration in the UK.

Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ was Superior General of the Society of Jesus at the time of the Vietnam War. He was deeply moved by the plight of those who fled Vietnam by sea, who became known as the ‘boat people’. Almost 800,000 refugees reached a port, but an estimated 200,000-400,000 failed to survive the treacherous passage, owing to overcrowded boats, storms and pirates.

Along with the rest of the world, the UK welcomed many Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees. Br Bernard Elliot SJ first began supporting them at Heythrop College in Cavendish Square in 1979, and via outreach work at Harmondsworth detention centre near Heathrow (which had opened as a symbol of the UK’s growing hostility to refugees in 1970, a year before a new Immigration Act determined that migrant workers coming would be subject to ‘immigration control’). The refugees Br Bernard befriended remember him as a true friend in a time of need, a man they instinctively warmed to and knew they could count on. ‘We called him “Father” even after being told that he’s not one. We called him that as a sign of respect, but also because he really was like a father to many of us’, says Bandi.

The following year, in an expression of his unwavering conviction that love for God must lead to justice and concrete acts of love for the marginalised, Fr Arrupe sent a telegram to Jesuits around the world about the refugee crisis. He suggested that the Society could deliver a spiritual and practical response, meet needs ignored by others, and enhance the quality of interventions underway.

The response to the telegram was overwhelmingly positive, with affirmations of commitment to help refugees in a structured way. And so the Jesuit Refugee Service was set up to tend to the spiritual and material needs of the 16 million refugees and asylum seekers throughout the world at the time. JRS was never meant to be just another NGO in this space, but rather a ministry to accompany and be present to refugees. So much has sprung from that vision, and whatever and wherever the project undertaken, that commitment to human and spiritual accompaniment remains.

Accordingly, the Jesuits at Campion House in Osterley, near Heathrow, began to welcome not just Vietnamese refugees, but refugees from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Cambodia, and Tamils fleeing civil war in Sri Lanka. 1993 then saw the establishment of the first office for refugee work in the UK in Stockwell, London: JRS UK was now formally a work. Br Bernard had by this time also gathered around him a team of Jesuits and dedicated volunteers who are still central to JRS’s work.

Br Bernard was an active member of the ‘Stop Detention Action’ group at a time when the use of immigration detention was beginning to expand. New detention centres were opened near Oxford and at Gatwick, and there were further restrictive adjustments to asylum and immigration law in 1993,

1996 and 1999, cutting access to benefits and the labour market for people seeking asylum.

In 2000, while the JRS office moved to Campion House, ‘Detention Fast-track’ began with a striking increase in the size of the detention estate as more centres opened. This marked a real turning point – incarceration began to be used routinely for the administration of immigration control. In 1993, the UK immigration detention estate had a capacity of 250 people; in the year 2000, 475 people; by 2014, this number stood at 3,800. Deprivation of liberty, treated so seriously in other areas of law, is used with abandon in the sphere of immigration control.

JRS moved to a location near London Bridge in 2004 and then in 2011, Fr Adolfo Nicolás SJ, then Superior General of the Society of Jesus, opened a new home for JRS at the Hurtado Centre in Wapping. Here began the JRS Day Centre, a space for people who had been refused asylum and were either destitute or outside the system, surviving on the edges of society. Asylum seekers who were stuck in limbo without active legal processes, and were liable to be deported at any time, became a core clientele for JRS. Stephen Lloyd, long time JRS volunteer, said: ‘I think the assistance given to them, the friendship and accompaniment, was less about “let’s find you a fridge”, and much more about solidarity: “come and join us, come and eat, come and talk to us.”’ refugees in successful asylum claims, some of which have lasted years. In an environment in which the government announced a plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, JRS’s research and publications seek to influence both government policy and public opinion in favour of welcoming the stranger and integrating them into our midst. In this, Pope Francis has shown the way, promoting a ‘culture of encounter’.

In 2007, the then Immigration Minister Liam Byrne had spoken about wanting a ‘hostile environment’, a call amplified in 2012 by Home Secretary Theresa May: ‘The aim is to create, here in Britain, a really hostile environment for illegal immigrants.’ This rhetoric of antagonism towards immigrants and ethnic minorities increased in intensity over the next decade, and 2022 saw the passing of the Nationality and Borders Act, which introduced a two-tier asylum system, meaning those who arrive in the UK via ‘irregular means’ may receive less protection and support. As there are no ‘safe and legal’ routes for the majority of asylum seekers, the recourse to dangerous Channel crossings in small boats has proliferated and become popularly identified as ‘the problem’ to solve.

Severe backlogs at the Home Office in processing asylum requests have exacerbated the situation of refugees being left in detention or legal limbo as they wait for accommodation. Thanks to the expansion of its services in 2019 to include legal support and further policy and research work, JRS has been able to support many

The history of JRS in this country shows the gradual expansion of services to meet the needs created by an increasingly hostile system. It is people who have given life to the bricks and mortar, and shaped the organisation. They number countless volunteers, refugee friends, staff – Jesuits and lay people – and the community is constantly growing. This year we will focus on our refugee-led activities, bringing refugee friends together to learn and share skills and socialise with one another, and on new projects that bring refugee friends together with their local community to support reconciliation and community cohesion. We have a range of activities planned, including art and craft sessions led by refugee friends, and a community kitchen for refugee friends to share favourite recipes and cook together. In addition, we will be helping refugee friends to access events and activities in their community. We believe that strong and supportive communities are a powerful tool to resist and protect one another from the hostile environment and some of the media narratives that seek to divide us and harm our friends, neighbours and community members.

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