Features

From city of sanctuary to ‘city of opportunity’ – how Bristol can better integrate refugees

Asylum seekers and refugees should be thought of as ‘citizens-in-waiting’, people with rights, skills and potential, a new report argues. Instead, many people at the sharp end of the system feel shut out of contributing to society.

‘The Illegal Migration Bill is not only deeply cruel. But also a shameless attempt to embolden extremism.’

‘People are still here, and they are thriving’: how a local network has stepped up for asylum seekers

Reports

‘I’m not taking any more asylum seekers’: Stagecoach ‘urgently’ investigating discrimination claims

Asylum seekers who are being temporarily housed at a remote Holiday Inn near Bristol Airport have complained of racial discrimination at the hands of bus drivers on the one route connecting them to the city.

Your Bristol Life

Listen: The Bristolian Refugee by Sam Sayer

Opinion

‘Rwanda is just one part of the government’s latest attack on asylum seekers’

Inside the refugee facility in Poland where a Bristol charity is helping Ukrainians get to the UK

James Rogerson was one of the Bristol volunteers with charity Love Bristol helping Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion, whose attempts to come to the UK have been delayed.

The budget hotels where asylum seekers live in limbo

Bahara is one of hundreds of asylum seekers who live in small rooms in budget hotels on the edge of Bristol. She has no money and no idea when she will be moved, or where she will be sent.

Ukraine community group helps to plug gaps in government’s refugee resettlement scheme

'Ukrainians in Bristol' has nearly quadrupled in size since the Russian invasion. It started as a Facebook group but now acts as an information centre helping to bring over refugees and organise aid.

Bristol council to call on government to improve support for Ukrainian refugees

A number of motions related to Russia's invasion have been submitted to full council.

More than 60 Afghan refugees offered temporary sanctuary in Bristol

Local health bosses say almost 200 people fleeing the Taliban may arrive in the city, with mayor Marvin Rees telling councillors local landlords have committed to housing 16 families so far.

‘Their lives and safety are in great danger’: Students urge Bristol Uni to protect Afghan alumni

A campaign is urging Bristol University to protect fellow alumni - one a women’s rights activist - stranded in Kabul, who fear for their lives as the Taliban retake the capital.