Since late last year, I have been visiting people who are detained in Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre as a volunteer with Scottish Detainee Visitors. Every month, I make the two-hour car journey with other volunteers from Edinburgh to Dungavel, where we speak to people incarcerated by the state in a system riddled with failures and frustrations.
Some have lived in the UK for decades. They’ve established families here and raised children. Others have only been in the country a few months or years. They came because they have friends or family in the UK, they’re familiar with the language, and they hope to find work opportunities.
These are the same reasons why I, a migrant who travels easily because of my whiteness, wealth and European passport, came to the UK.
