Mary Bosworth, Professor of Criminology
In 2017, the year for which the most recent statistics are available, 32, 551 foreign nationals, including 5200 asylum seekers and 6100 ex-offenders, were removed from the UK or departed voluntarily after the initiation of removal proceedings (Migration Observatory, 2019). This process is administered by Home Office immigration officers and by private security ‘escort agents’ from Mitie, who transport people to the airport and may force them onto the plane. Escort agents also transport immigration detainees between immigration removal centres (IRCs), short term holding facilities (STHFs) and from prisons and police stations. Despite their pivotal role in border control, we know nothing about their work or their working lives. We also know very little about the experiences of the process of removal and transportation. It is that gap, which this project will fill. Funded by the University of Oxford John Fell Fund, and the British Academy, this project adopts a mixed method to understand the processes and implications of detainee removals and transportation. It will draw together interviews and observations from a number of sites, including holding centres, transportation vans and planes.