He arrived in the UK aged 12, but for the last 14 years Hall has been under threat of being sent back to Barbados – a country he doesn’t remember and where he has no surviving relatives

When Tony Hall was released from detention in 2012, his family rallied around to support him. One of his five older sisters said he could stay with her for a while. A nephew printed business cards and designed a website for him so he could advertise his services as a painter and decorator, to make the most of the vocational training he received while he served his prison sentence.

But for 14 years he has been unable to make use of the cards because of a Home Office decision that he should be deported. All this time he has been kept on a deportation list, which means he cannot work, rent somewhere to live, receive benefits or do anything that would allow him to start rebuilding his life. Instead, he remains on the edge of destitution, reliant on the kindness of family and friends to survive.

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© Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian

© Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian

UK home secretary’s meeting comes after PM said he wanted to rejoin European law enforcement databases

The UK home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, will meet the EU’s home affairs commissioner on Monday for further talks just days after Andy Burnham said he wanted to rejoin European law enforcement databases from which the UK has been locked out of since Brexit.

According to the European Commission, they will discuss “migration, border management, law enforcement cooperation and counter-terrorism”, with the latest Frontex data published on Monday showing a 43% decline in small boats crossing the Channel.

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© Photograph: Marcin Nowak/Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Marcin Nowak/Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Marcin Nowak/Anadolu/Getty Images

Jason Powell also backed concentration camps as Reform councillors talk of executing grooming gang members

An aspiring Reform UK MP who advocated the use of concentration camps and said “you cannot be Muslim and British” has been suspended from the party.

The activist is one of a number featured in an ITV documentary, which will be broadcast in full on Sunday night and has already resulted in fresh questions about Reform’s vetting process.

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© Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters

© Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters

© Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters

British father would like to take his family to Lancashire to see ill relative but officials refused visa for his partner, a refugee from Myanmar

The Home Office has denied a great-grandfather from Lancashire the chance of meeting his five-month-old British great-grandson, who lives abroad.

William Cross was born in Thailand on 30 April to parents Matthew Cross, 31, who is from Burnley in Lancashire, and Khin Thant Zin, known as Jue Jue, also 31, a refugee who fled persecution in Myanmar to Thailand.

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© Photograph: supplied

© Photograph: supplied

© Photograph: supplied

‘Unfair’ immigration and asylum bill could fail to support sexual violence survivors, anti-slavery commissioner says

Survivors of sexual violence could wrongly be denied recognition as victims of human trafficking under credibility tests in a new UK law, the independent anti-slavery commissioner has warned.

Eleanor Lyons said the measures in the immigration and asylum bill were fundamentally unfair and could lead to many more victims of slavery and trafficking, including those allegedly abused by Mohamed Al Fayed, being denied support.

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© Photograph: Murdo Macleod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo Macleod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo Macleod/The Guardian

Country has not had an election in 33 years and has withdrawn cooperation with UK on migrant returns

Eritrea, the east African country embroiled in a row with the UK over its refusal to accept the return of rejected asylum seekers and criminals, is considered one of world’s most secretive and repressive states, with reports of arbitrary detention and severe restrictions on freedom of expression, opinion and religion.

Situated in the Horn of Africa and bordering Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti, it became a sovereign state after gaining independence from Ethiopia in 1993 following a 30-year war.

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© Photograph: Monicah Mwangi/Reuters

© Photograph: Monicah Mwangi/Reuters

© Photograph: Monicah Mwangi/Reuters

How dare the channel reveal more racism and bigotry within Reform just as he was planning a press conference?

Sometimes the world can be very unfair. As though life is just one cruel joke. How else to make sense of everything? For when the history books come to be written, Nigel Farage will go down as one of the century’s unluckiest politicians.

Poor Nige. All he has ever wanted is a better Britain. A country united in a shared vision where everyone gets along with one another. Where people of all faiths and none look out for each other. Where men and women of all colours are treated as equals. Where Nige can teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.

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© Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters

© Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters

© Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters

Home secretary says she will block all Eritreans from UK unless a returns deal is agreed for rejected asylum seekers and criminals

Shabana Mahmood has been accused of launching a “perfunctory political gimmick” by the Eritrean government in a row over the return of rejected asylum seekers and criminals.

After the home secretary threatened to block all Eritreans from entering the UK unless a returns deal was agreed, the country’s embassy claimed the UK had failed to engage in “meaningful and appropriate” dialogue.

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© Photograph: Marcin Nowak/Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Marcin Nowak/Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Marcin Nowak/Anadolu/Getty Images

Video posted online shows men entering home through unlocked door and claiming to be looking for paperwork

A Home Office accommodation provider has launched an investigation after “English nationalist” content creators posing as contractors filmed themselves entering a property housing asylum seekers.

The video, titled “HMO Hunting in Leicestershire”, was posted to the Truthhurts101UK YouTube account, which describes itself as being run by an “English nationalist citizen journalist” and claims to cover “immigration, demographic change, policing and stories others overlook”. The footage was also posted to the associated TH101UK’s X account, where is has been viewed more than 300,000 times.

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© Photograph: Dan Chung/The Guardian

© Photograph: Dan Chung/The Guardian

© Photograph: Dan Chung/The Guardian

Reform leader did not say who should be targeted but party figures have been critical of small boat rescues by RNLI

Charities and volunteers who help asylum seekers get to the UK should face potential criminal prosecution, Nigel Farage has said in an interview with a rightwing US podcaster.

While the Reform UK leader did not specify which organisations should be targeted, he and other senior Reform figures have been heavily critical of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), which has faced a campaign of intimidation for its work in rescuing asylum seekers in the Channel.

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© Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

© Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

© Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

President Trump Cut Legal Immigrant Entries 2.7 Times More Than Illegal Entries - "These cuts to legal immigration are harming US citizens seeking to reunite with their spouses, fiancés, children, and other relatives. They are also undermining US prosperity and increasing the US deficit. But they also illustrate the central misconception about the Trump administration's immigration agenda. It is not about stopping 'illegal' immigration. It is a broader assault on all types of immigration. As Americans debate the path forward on immigration, that's a reality everyone should understand."

also btw...

• US immigration authorities raid home of Democratic Trump critic Ilhan Omar [ungated] - "Omar wrote on social media that the US government is being weaponized to target a political enemy of the president."[1]
• New York City man shot in car with child present by ICE agents, mayor says [ungated] - "Federal immigration agents have shot at least 21 people since Republican President Donald Trump returned to office, 7 fatally, sparking protests across the US. Critics contend ​that Trump's push to ramp up deportations has led to an increasing number of violent confrontations, and accuse the administration of resisting accountability for the agents involved."[2] (previously)
• Trump administration freezes green cards for Microsoft, IT firms, probes universities [ungated] - "Since taking office, US President Donald Trump has pursued a broad effort to reduce the number of foreign-born people in the US and curtail their pathway to residence and citizenship. Thursday's twin actions mark the broadest strike yet against skilled-worker immigration programs — potentially cutting off a common path to permanent residency for foreign tech workers — while putting some of the country's top research universities on notice."

Move from anti-immigration or anti-Muslim views to violence is ‘most marked trend’ in spy agency’s caseload over last year

Extremists with anti-migrant opinions are becoming increasingly likely to consider carrying out terrorist attacks against immigration centres and asylum hotels in the UK, the head of MI5 has warned.

Ken McCallum said a shift from radicalised rightwing sentiment to violence was “the most marked trend” in the spy agency’s caseload over the past year, contributing to a rise in the overall UK terror threat level.

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© Photograph: Richard Saker/The Guardian

© Photograph: Richard Saker/The Guardian

© Photograph: Richard Saker/The Guardian

Farage’s intervention comes as Reform chair Zia Yusuf criticises ‘everybody’ in former Tory government that included Jenrick and Suella Braverman

Nigel Farage has denied that a Reform UK government would authorise lethal force against small boat crossings in the Channel, hours after one of his MPs said the Royal Marines should be permitted to fire on the boats.

Farage overruled Robert Jenrick, a Reform UK MP who defected from the Conservatives, who had told TalkTV that the party would deploy the marines to take boats back to France.

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© Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

© Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

© Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

PM hails next month’s ‘reset’ summit as first step to closer ties, but tensions over trade may prove problematic

Andy Burnham has promised a “serious dialogue” over the UK’s future place in Europe, saying the existing relationship is “not good enough” as he framed next month’s Brussels summit as a possible first step to EU membership.

The prime minister said Britain must take a “clear-eyed rational look” at its long-term relationship with the bloc to boost economic growth and control immigration, which needed to go beyond Labour’s existing red lines.

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© Photograph: House of Commons/PA

© Photograph: House of Commons/PA

© Photograph: House of Commons/PA

• Discover and buy more of Ben’s cartoons here

• Order your own print of this cartoon from the Guardian Print Shop

• Ben’s latest book, Drawn to the Chaos, is available to pre-order now

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© Illustration: Ben Jennings/The Guardian

© Illustration: Ben Jennings/The Guardian

© Illustration: Ben Jennings/The Guardian

On the Today programme, his comments were disconnected, cliche-riddled and unremittingly stupid. But to clog the collective consciousness with nonsense is exactly the point

Had Reform merely announced its intention to suspend the asylum system for an entire parliamentary term, I’d have just ignored it. Even to dignify its policy platform with a response is to enter its alternate universe, in which it’s preparing for government. I prefer, if only fractionally, this universe we’re in, where the party hangs by a thread on the results of a parliamentary inquiry into Nigel Farage’s £5m gift from a disinterested well-wisher.

Had Zia Yusuf, the party’s home affairs spokesperson, gone on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme merely promising a British version of ICE, I still would have ignored it, not due to complacency, more due to a bone-penetrating despair that anyone, even he, would look at the US’s shadow militia, performing staged acts of unfettered violence and inhumanity, and think: “That looks cool – I bet I could get some political capital out of that.”

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© Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters

© Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters

© Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters

The prime minister tells MPs the next summit with the EU will be held on 20 November

Burnham to urge MPs to embrace closer ties with EU

Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson, is speaking now. He started his speech with an account of a 73-year-old woman dying in North Wales after having to wait 23 hours for an ambulance, and he sought to link this to immigration.

He said:

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimates that 15,000 people across Britain died last year due to excess wait times for emergency treatment. That’s 300 people a week, 300 lives destroyed, 300 families devastated.

And that number has increased tenfold over the last decade. This is a moral outrage, and it is a direct result of decisions made by Tory and Labour governments.

I don’t think that’s because he wants to have a fight over the European Union. I think that’s because he knows what we’re talking about today impacts hard in what is known as the red wall.

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© Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images

As ‘one in, one out’ scheme ends, refugees still want to cross the Channel despite French police aggression and hostile welcomes

The smuggler works quickly. Using a small shovel, he digs up a dinghy buried in a sand dune on a beach not far from Boulogne-sur-Mer, assembles it and affixes a motor in record time.

“I never saw anyone work like this,” says Amad, from Iraq, one of a group of about 30 asylum seekers waiting to cross the Channel. “The UK government wants to stop the smugglers, but they are smart. They have plan A, plan B and plan C, so there is always a way for them to get people across this sea. For as long as asylum seekers will pay them, there is too much money involved for them to give up.”

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© Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters

© Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters

© Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters

UK classifies Syria as safe to return to despite UN refugee body’s advice

A Syrian plastic surgeon is facing deportation from the UK after the Home Office revoked his refugee status, declaring it is now safe for him and his family to return to their home country.

Despite Foreign Office guidance advising against all travel to Syria because of the “volatile” security situation, the government has classified it as a safe place for refugees to return to.

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© Photograph: Mina Kim/Reuters

© Photograph: Mina Kim/Reuters

© Photograph: Mina Kim/Reuters

Research challenges the notion that the growing visibility of crosses and other symbols reflects a revival of Christianity

Christian nationalism in Britain is being driven largely by people who rarely attend church and are more concerned with defending the country’s Christian heritage, according to research.

The report, by the thinktank Theos, identified five different groups within the UK in a survey that looked at their attitudes to Christianity and Britishness.

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© Photograph: Joao Daniel Pereira/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Joao Daniel Pereira/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Joao Daniel Pereira/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Only ‘very small number’ of people already in Lebanon or Jordan will be referred, says organisation running scheme

The Home Office is facing claims it gave false hope to the people of Gaza after it emerged that a new safe route for Palestinian refugees will only be open to those who have already escaped to Lebanon or Jordan.

Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, announced the reopening of a resettlement scheme for refugees at Labour’s annual conference last month. A statement from her department said: “Around one in four referrals will be for Afghan women and girls and Palestinian refugees, fleeing war and persecution.”

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© Photograph: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu/Getty Images