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21 Nov 2025
Seeking Safety is a Human Right: Refugee Support Devon Statement in response to Home Secretary Asylum Reforms
Seeking Safety is a Human Right
Refugee Support Devon Statement in response to Home Secretary Asylum Reforms Announcement, November 2025
Earlier this week, the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood set out new changes to the UK asylum system and proposals that would tighten the rules for people seeking safety in the UK, adding to the challenges they already face. As outlined in the Government’s Restoring Order and Control paper, these plans repeat a familiar narrative: prioritising enforcement over compassion, and overlooking the real reasons why people seek safety - or the basic truth that migration is not a crime but instead a normal part of life undertaken by people since the dawn of time.
This week has been hard, and we are still finding the words - and scrambling to understand how these plans will affect the people we support. But what we know for certain is this: while those in power continue to create uncertainty and hostility towards refugees and people seeking safety, we will continue - as we have for more than two decades - to offer a warm and unwavering welcome to all.
Here in Devon, where access to legal support is scarce, our team provides free, specialist immigration advice to people who would otherwise have nowhere to turn. Our volunteers run twice-weekly support sessions where anyone in need is met with compassion, practical help, and a listening ear. Alongside this, we offer language support, emergency assistance, and community activities that help people rebuild their lives with dignity.
In times like these, our commitment does not waver. We stand with refugees, asylum seekers, and vulnerable migrants, and with our many partners and communities across Devon who believe in kindness and humanity. Regardless of the current rise in racist rhetoric, a spread of harmful misinformation and scapegoating of people seeking safety, we will continue to ensure that people seeking safety find not hostility, but hope. As their status in this country becomes increasingly uncertain, we remain the steady, certain community that has their back and stands beside them in solidarity - rooted in the knowledge that seeking safety is a human right enshrined in international law.
Whether fleeing war, persecution, or violence, everyone deserves safety and the chance to rebuild their lives.
Together with more than 60+ refugee organisations across the country in the Together With Refugees network, we are taking part in a nationwide action this winter - sharing one clear message across our towns and cities across the country: We stand together with refugees. We invite you to join us in a weekend of action from the 5th - 7th December by emailing your MP and displaying a poster in your window to show your support.
Pictured above is what our clients see when they walk through the door to seek support with us: a warm, Devon welcome.
Want to support our work? Click here to find out how.
You can share our full statement on Linkedin, Facebook and Instagram.
Thank you for your continued support and solidarity.
See you soon,
Natasha - Refugee Support Devon
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