Sonia L
@sonial77.bsky.social
Human rights lawyer. Migrant. Queer. Raspberry farmer. Personal account, obvs. She/her
Pinned
Sonia L
@sonial77.bsky.social
· Nov 13
My spirit animal joins us (and I am particularly feeling him this week)!
Reflections on last week...
New from Free Movement: Free Movement Weekly Immigration Newsletter #96 | Sonia Lenegan
Free Movement Weekly Immigration Newsletter #96 - Free Movement
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter!
freemovement.org.uk
November 25, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Reflections on last week...
Reposted by Sonia L
By coincidence, I took a screen shot of this tweet by the Lord chancellor and justice secretary David Lammy, in 2020 when he was in opposition.
November 25, 2025 at 3:10 PM
By coincidence, I took a screen shot of this tweet by the Lord chancellor and justice secretary David Lammy, in 2020 when he was in opposition.
Reposted by Sonia L
🌈Vote for Micro Rainbow!🌈
Our powerful short film Who’s There has been nominated for the #SmileyCFA film awards and we need YOUR support to win!
Cast your vote today and help us support #LGBTQI people fleeing persecution👉 smileycharityfilmawards.com/films/whos-t...
Our powerful short film Who’s There has been nominated for the #SmileyCFA film awards and we need YOUR support to win!
Cast your vote today and help us support #LGBTQI people fleeing persecution👉 smileycharityfilmawards.com/films/whos-t...
Who's There?
The Smiley Charity Film Awards is the world’s biggest campaign to promote cause-based films. Nearly half a million members of the public have voted in the…
smileycharityfilmawards.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:04 PM
🌈Vote for Micro Rainbow!🌈
Our powerful short film Who’s There has been nominated for the #SmileyCFA film awards and we need YOUR support to win!
Cast your vote today and help us support #LGBTQI people fleeing persecution👉 smileycharityfilmawards.com/films/whos-t...
Our powerful short film Who’s There has been nominated for the #SmileyCFA film awards and we need YOUR support to win!
Cast your vote today and help us support #LGBTQI people fleeing persecution👉 smileycharityfilmawards.com/films/whos-t...
Reposted by Sonia L
The government’s decision to halve the time limit for refugees to leave Home Office accommodation is driving people into homelessness and exploitation, according to migrant rights campaigners and homelessness charities
By me, for @theleaduk.bsky.social national.thelead.uk/p/new-asylum...
By me, for @theleaduk.bsky.social national.thelead.uk/p/new-asylum...
New asylum policies making homeless refugees “targets for the far right”
Labour’s abrupt return to the 28-day move-on period is pushing vulnerable people into rough sleeping and exposing them to fraud and abuse.
national.thelead.uk
November 25, 2025 at 1:20 PM
The government’s decision to halve the time limit for refugees to leave Home Office accommodation is driving people into homelessness and exploitation, according to migrant rights campaigners and homelessness charities
By me, for @theleaduk.bsky.social national.thelead.uk/p/new-asylum...
By me, for @theleaduk.bsky.social national.thelead.uk/p/new-asylum...
Reposted by Sonia L
The 28-day move-on period resumed on 1st September, giving newly accepted refugees four weeks until eviction. New Horizon Youth Centre saw 56 new people in October looking for support after being evicted from Home Office accommodation – a fifth higher than the previous month.
November 25, 2025 at 1:25 PM
The 28-day move-on period resumed on 1st September, giving newly accepted refugees four weeks until eviction. New Horizon Youth Centre saw 56 new people in October looking for support after being evicted from Home Office accommodation – a fifth higher than the previous month.
Reposted by Sonia L
Labour's slap dash approach to asylum policy - specifically, halving the the time limit for newly accepted refugees to leave Home Office accommodation - is leaving people at risk of homelessness, exploitation and far-right violence
✍️ @cjayanetti.bsky.social
national.thelead.uk/p/new-asylum...
✍️ @cjayanetti.bsky.social
national.thelead.uk/p/new-asylum...
New asylum policies making homeless refugees “targets for the far right”
Labour’s abrupt return to the 28-day move-on period is pushing vulnerable people into rough sleeping and exposing them to fraud and abuse.
national.thelead.uk
November 25, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Labour's slap dash approach to asylum policy - specifically, halving the the time limit for newly accepted refugees to leave Home Office accommodation - is leaving people at risk of homelessness, exploitation and far-right violence
✍️ @cjayanetti.bsky.social
national.thelead.uk/p/new-asylum...
✍️ @cjayanetti.bsky.social
national.thelead.uk/p/new-asylum...
Reposted by Sonia L
Nauru president floats returning NZYQ refugees to home countries, in interview Australia tried to suppress
Nauru president floats returning NZYQ refugees to home countries, in interview Australia tried to suppress
In an interview kept secret since February, David Adeang wrongly stated the people Australia has begun deporting to his country are not refugees
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Nauru may seek to return refugees from the NZYQ cohort to their home countries, the Nauruan president has said, in an interview officially translated into English for the first time, and which the Australian government sought to keep hidden.
David Adeang’s interview erroneously claimed those being sent to Nauru were not refugees and said Nauru may seek to return them to their countries of origin where possible. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Nauru president floats returning NZYQ refugees to home countries, in interview Australia tried to suppress
This is an insane way to be making policy clarifications, but the Home Sec has tweeted that the increases to settement for illegal entry will not be applied to refugees
h/t @jonfeatonby.bsky.social for flagging this up
h/t @jonfeatonby.bsky.social for flagging this up
November 24, 2025 at 2:01 PM
This is an insane way to be making policy clarifications, but the Home Sec has tweeted that the increases to settement for illegal entry will not be applied to refugees
h/t @jonfeatonby.bsky.social for flagging this up
h/t @jonfeatonby.bsky.social for flagging this up
Reposted by Sonia L
At HMSC, we work tirelessly to provide holistic casework and advocacy to migrants in London, and we campaign alongside our visitors for an end to the hostile environment. We need your help to continue this vital work - support us by donating to our fundraiser!
localgiving.org/fundraising/...
localgiving.org/fundraising/...
Support HMSC: Winter Fundraising Appeal | Localgiving
localgiving.org
November 24, 2025 at 11:52 AM
At HMSC, we work tirelessly to provide holistic casework and advocacy to migrants in London, and we campaign alongside our visitors for an end to the hostile environment. We need your help to continue this vital work - support us by donating to our fundraiser!
localgiving.org/fundraising/...
localgiving.org/fundraising/...
Reposted by Sonia L
Our new analysis shows once the system is fully operational, 1.66-1.9m reviews of refugee status would need to be done over the first decade, resulting in a total cost of between £1.1 - 1.27bn, depending on how many people lose their protection at review.
November 24, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Our new analysis shows once the system is fully operational, 1.66-1.9m reviews of refugee status would need to be done over the first decade, resulting in a total cost of between £1.1 - 1.27bn, depending on how many people lose their protection at review.
Reposted by Sonia L
"Of the United Kingdom’s 100 fastest-growing companies, 54 have a foreign-born founder or co-founder" www.tenentrepreneurs.org/job-creators...
November 24, 2025 at 8:18 AM
"Of the United Kingdom’s 100 fastest-growing companies, 54 have a foreign-born founder or co-founder" www.tenentrepreneurs.org/job-creators...
Reposted by Sonia L
As many of you know, I do a lot of volunteer work with asylum seekers and refugees. One thing that’s going on is that Labour’s hostility towards migrants and the counterbattery from Tories and Reform is causing horrific fear and anxiety among vulnerable people who deserve our protection.
November 23, 2025 at 5:21 PM
As many of you know, I do a lot of volunteer work with asylum seekers and refugees. One thing that’s going on is that Labour’s hostility towards migrants and the counterbattery from Tories and Reform is causing horrific fear and anxiety among vulnerable people who deserve our protection.
Reposted by Sonia L
So about 10 minutes after the Home Secretary was spouting far right tropes about open borders experiments & migration being the cause of national division, I’m hearing racism is bad again
Starmer accuses ‘spineless’ Farage of failure to tackle racism in Reform party
PM says Reform UK leader also has ‘questions to answer’ about alleged racist comments and chants at school
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:02 PM
So about 10 minutes after the Home Secretary was spouting far right tropes about open borders experiments & migration being the cause of national division, I’m hearing racism is bad again
Reposted by Sonia L
This government will pursue a policy that is economically, morally and socially bad. Forcing people to only be eligible to settle after 10/15/20/30 years depending on how poor and marginalised you are. It will not address division. It will manifest a different, more harmful one.
November 23, 2025 at 11:22 AM
This government will pursue a policy that is economically, morally and socially bad. Forcing people to only be eligible to settle after 10/15/20/30 years depending on how poor and marginalised you are. It will not address division. It will manifest a different, more harmful one.
Reposted by Sonia L
"We grant people different rights based on their genetic heritage and on which scrap of land they happened to be born on. That’s mad, isn’t it?"
I just think, when debating immigration and so on, that we should try not to lose sight of the fact that "nationality" is a made up thing.
I just think, when debating immigration and so on, that we should try not to lose sight of the fact that "nationality" is a made up thing.
Why does nationality matter, anyway?
Deciding someone's legal rights based on a nebulous combination of birthplace and parentage is a bit weird
www.newstatesman.com
November 23, 2025 at 11:33 AM
"We grant people different rights based on their genetic heritage and on which scrap of land they happened to be born on. That’s mad, isn’t it?"
I just think, when debating immigration and so on, that we should try not to lose sight of the fact that "nationality" is a made up thing.
I just think, when debating immigration and so on, that we should try not to lose sight of the fact that "nationality" is a made up thing.
Reposted by Sonia L
The fact that in both 2019 and 2024, the winning party did so with a set of manifesto promises that could not be kept and dissolved upon contact with actual office is something that as an industry we should be much more bothered by than we are.
November 23, 2025 at 12:35 PM
The fact that in both 2019 and 2024, the winning party did so with a set of manifesto promises that could not be kept and dissolved upon contact with actual office is something that as an industry we should be much more bothered by than we are.
Reposted by Sonia L
What happens when you start with a hostile asylum system that sets people up to fail and then persistently degrade the legal aid system people depend on to accompany them through it, to put together the evidence in the framework of the law.
November 23, 2025 at 10:24 AM
What happens when you start with a hostile asylum system that sets people up to fail and then persistently degrade the legal aid system people depend on to accompany them through it, to put together the evidence in the framework of the law.
If the system worked properly and fairly, this man would have been recognised years ago, been able to bring his family here and be a British citizen. Instead, he now faces being caught up in the Home Secretary's plans to switch refugees into what seems to be a minimum 20 year route to settlement.
November 23, 2025 at 9:08 AM
If the system worked properly and fairly, this man would have been recognised years ago, been able to bring his family here and be a British citizen. Instead, he now faces being caught up in the Home Secretary's plans to switch refugees into what seems to be a minimum 20 year route to settlement.
Reposted by Sonia L
A grim story
The life and limbo of a UK asylum seeker: one man’s harrowing 17-year wait for leave to remain
Ussu fled imprisonment and torture, only to find himself treated like a liar and outcast in the UK. Here’s how he survived homelessness and horrific injury in almost two decades without a decision
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:28 AM
A grim story
Reposted by Sonia L
The race to the bottom…
Westminster’s overhaul of its asylum system will affect us, and unless we want even higher numbers coming here, we need to set similar measures | ✍️ Leo Varadkar
Common travel area means Ireland must align migration law with UK
Westminster’s overhaul of its asylum system will affect us, and unless we want even higher numbers coming here, we need to set similar measures
www.thetimes.com
November 22, 2025 at 8:27 PM
The race to the bottom…
Reposted by Sonia L
Obscene. You cannot possibly convince me a prosecution was in the public interest. This miscarriage of justice should be immediately quashed and both the DVLA and magistrate have some explaining to do.
Teenager prosecuted over £1.67 in unpaid tax on a car.
A criminal conviction for an offence that happened before she knew she even owned a car.
Infuriating that this kind of thing is still happening
Labour has failed to fix the #SingleJusticeProcedure
www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/t...
A criminal conviction for an offence that happened before she knew she even owned a car.
Infuriating that this kind of thing is still happening
Labour has failed to fix the #SingleJusticeProcedure
www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/t...
Teenager convicted over £1.67 unpaid tax bill for 18th birthday gift
The prosecution of the teenager happened in the controversial Single Justice Procedure
www.standard.co.uk
November 22, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Obscene. You cannot possibly convince me a prosecution was in the public interest. This miscarriage of justice should be immediately quashed and both the DVLA and magistrate have some explaining to do.
Reposted by Sonia L
Meet the AI workers who tell their friends and family to stay away from AI
Meet the AI workers who tell their friends and family to stay away from AI
When the people making AI seem trustworthy are the ones who trust it the least, it shows that incentives for speed are overtaking safety, experts say
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Meet the AI workers who tell their friends and family to stay away from AI
It is good to see that that some people a) actually have values/principles and b) do not abandon those when entering Parliament
November 22, 2025 at 1:59 PM
It is good to see that that some people a) actually have values/principles and b) do not abandon those when entering Parliament
Reposted by Sonia L
‘It’s wrong’: the Labour MP speaking out against the party’s asylum policy
‘It’s wrong’: the Labour MP speaking out against the party’s asylum policy
As a well-informed MP on the frontline of the debate, Tony Vaughan’s views are particularly unwelcome to government
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:48 PM
‘It’s wrong’: the Labour MP speaking out against the party’s asylum policy
Reposted by Sonia L
Yes, our Labour Home Secretary really did just post this on Twitter.
It's not an AI hoax. More's the pity.
It's not an AI hoax. More's the pity.
November 21, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Yes, our Labour Home Secretary really did just post this on Twitter.
It's not an AI hoax. More's the pity.
It's not an AI hoax. More's the pity.