In 2014, the UK Government’s controversial Immigration Bill became law as the Immigration Act.

The Act introduced several new punitive measures against migrants, including restrictions on access to healthcare and new measures to force private landlords to check the immigration status of their tenants.

It also followed a series of controversial advertising campaigns run by the UK Home Office, such a van advertising campaign with the headline “Go Home or Face Arrest”.

To raise awareness of the new measures in the Act and its possible consequences, Refugee Action:

• Hosted an online Q+A with a panel of experts from Crisis, the British Medical Association and the Immigration Law Practitioners Association about the impact of the new measures
• Provided a summary of the Immigration Bill, outlining why we believed the measures it contained were unjust, unworkable and expensive
• Highlighted our concerns with the Home Office’s hostile approach to voluntary return, speaking out about their advertising campaigns on vans, in reporting centres and their controversial immigration checks at London stations

Even though the bill is now law, we are continuing to monitor how it affects the people we help. We thank everyone who followed, supported and shared this campaign.