Steven Galliver-Andrew 🌍

You can’t talk about “an incredibly complex” asylum case, where you “don’t want to get into details” while arguing the system is too easily abused @bbcnickrobinson #R4Today

On the death of a man in detention yesterday we send heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and everyone who knew and loved him. Brook House is prison architecture and no-one should take their last breath there. We mourn that a young man died before he could be free.

📣 Steven Galliver-Andrew successfully challenges forced relocation of student asylum seeker 📣 Steven Galliver-Andrew of Garden Ct acted for the claimant, instructed by Satvir Sahota & Maniha Ahmad Khan of @DuncanLewis. Read on here 🔽 gardencourtchambers.co.uk/news/steven-ga… #JudicialReview

ok but you could have justified the text

A few years ago I was in one of those ramshackle hair salons in South London having my hair braided. The salon was run by a fabulous woman of African heritage & to pay the high rent, she rented out corners of the shop to people who provided other services including nails, false eye lashes, eyebrow threading etc. I didn't always appreciate the place as it was noisy & untidy. But there was always something equally enjoyable about the experience; the gossip, the unsolicited advice about improving my appearance or relationship, the craziness, the music, the people trying to sell you pretend Gucci bags, & the children running around if you went at the weekend. It was a place of escape & one where I felt safe. I happened to be there one day when immigration enforcement turned up. Everyone froze, including me, as the operation is one of true terror; it could easily have been an armed robbery such was the menacing command to stay where we were. I noticed a customer returning from the bathroom make down a side corridor which I knew led to a back exit; I've seen the movies & thought I didn't fancy her chances as they'd have had that covered. They hadn't & I never saw her again. The immigration officers went straight for the nail person who was of Vietnamese heritage. She had all the right papers. They then turned to the African heritage staff who were all British citizens. The owner was made to go to her flat above the business to retrieve evidence of her British status. None of us customers were questioned. One burly red-faced officer said something that sounded like false intelligence, but I can't be sure. I watched on curiously but angry, promising myself that I'd only intervene if necessary. Immigration enforcement came & immigration enforcement left after about an hour of questioning & checking. When they'd driven off, the only white member of staff, doing the eye lashes, looked ashen! I looked quizzically at her. She was unsure of her immigration status as her father had told her he'd sorted it but she was unsure. She was Albanian. She was the only person working in the place not to be questioned which was not lost on any of us including white customers waiting for nails and eye lashes. The workers all laughed, & it was business as usual but not for the owner who said that that was the third time & she was fed up of it. She felt targeted & harassed. She wanted to close shop. She did though I don't know if this was the reason. In the next few weeks, the Home Office will mount similar operations across countless businesses. There are issues in some of these industries, sure. I've long worried about some of the women in the nail shops. I also know that a large number of them have regularised their stay in the UK & if they started off as trafficked victims, have managed to escape this evil & live their lives on their own terms. This is not an easy feat but it happens. Others won't be so lucky. But the exercise afoot is not concerned with whether people have been trafficked, or of their working conditions. What will happen is that British people, settled people, people with leave to remain, mainly Black & Brown people, will be harassed & terrorised in front of petrified & suspicious customers, thereby causing much harm to legitimate businesses. And like the #HostileEnvironment, the exercise will impact more on people legitimately in the UK, like the experiences of the #Windrush victims, than it will to curb illegal migration as the National Audit Office reported of said policy. This will be all the more the case that the operation was announced ahead of time.

📣 Steven Galliver-Andrew assists in swiftly securing release of long-term immigration detainee 📣 Steven Galliver-Andrew of Garden Court Chambers was instructed by Satvir Sahota & Maniha Ahmad Khan of @DuncanLewis Solicitors. Read on here🔽 gardencourtchambers.co.uk/news/steven-ga…

@RichardMoorhead Ex Directory. For the cool entrance if nothing else! After you have been to Ye Cracke of course...

So we don’t want to sack Southgate after all lads? #EURO2024 #NEDENG

🚨 Urgent: We've relaunched our Rwanda Project to assist detained individuals facing removal to Rwanda. If you or someone you know is detained & doesn't have a lawyer, contact us: 📞 020 7456 9750 (Mon-Thurs 10am - 12pm) 📧 RwandaProject@biduk.org biduk.org/articles/bid-r…

Great podcast from @guardianeco explaining how and why the @KlimaSeniorin case was brought by 2500 Swiss Senior Women before the @ECHR_CEDH and the positive impact that the landmark judgment will have on #climatejustice across the globe for all generations.

🙏 to @BBCWorld for giving me the chance to explain the impact of the ECtHR’s momentous decision in the @KlimaSeniorin climate case.

Albanian asylum applicants come in for a lot of flack. It's important to recognise many have substance. They should have a right of appeal. Garden Court's amazing researcher David Neale has done excellent research of literature on Albanian human trafficking / blood feuds 🔽

The general public would be surprised at how "foreign" some of the people the Home Office try to deport actually are: Home Office attempt to deport UK-born man was illegal, judge says theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/m…

Very proud to have the most amazing @gardencourtlaw colleagues! #DoRightFearNoOne

The evidence that came out at trial raises serious concerns about officers' understanding of the powers they are given when policing these #protests Scary given their powers are ever-increasing #FreePalestine

This is right out of the Russian invasion playbook in Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia. If Ukraine doesn't win its war against Russian aggression then eastern Europe will be next. theguardian.com/world/2024/feb…