An introduction to the "Hostile Environment"

The hostile environment is a sprawling web of immigration controls embedded in the heart of our public services and communities. The Government requires employers, landlords, private sector workers, NHS staff and other public servants to check a person's immigration status before they can offer them a job, housing, healthcare or other support. Landlords and employers can face fines and even criminal sanctions if they fail to do so.

Immigration controls are now embedded in everyday interactions between trusted public sector workers and the people they are supposed to serve: nurses and patients, police and victims of crime and teachers and their pupils. New offences mean undocumented migrants find themselves criminalised for doing what they must to survive – in some cases simply for working or even driving"

To read about the full extent of the Hostile Environment have a look at Liberty’s “Guide to the Hostile Environment”.