When Eli* arrived in the UK in March 2022, she was looking forward to feeling safe after fleeing danger in Iran. As soon as she stepped off the plane at Heathrow with her children, an eight-year-old and twin six-year-olds, she told an immigration officer she wanted to claim asylum.
Soon afterwards, she was transferred to a hotel in Manchester, where she has now been living for over a year with her children, waiting to receive a decision on her asylum claim.
“It’s been really bad,” the 42-year-old told openDemocracy. “Night and day we cry.”
