Glasgow is covered in a thin layer of snow, and the temperature is hovering around freezing. The unpleasant weather has coincided with a perceived new harsher policy within the Home Office that has led to many families that we know fearing detention and deportation. In the past few weeks, the goverment has been ordering those with families to bring the children with them when they make their weekly trip to sign on at the Home Office. This often means that the family will be detained, pending deportation back to their country of origin. (This method replaced the dawn raids to a large extent after a major public backlash in Scotland.)
We know of around 6 families who have recently been told to bring the children with them, and it instills terror in them as their appointment approaches. Some have complied and have been greatly relieved to not be detained but their sense of fear and insecurity that the Home Office has something planned, is not alleviated. One single parent who escaped a situation of domestic abuse was required to attend with her children this week. One of her children was ill and the doctor gave her a note, but it may only have postponed what the Home Office has decided. The fear in this lady's voice was all too evident as she explained the situation to me on the phone. For another lady and her young son, this is a sadly familiar situation. They have been detained in the past and were only released when bail was posted by those connected with a local church. Her son is clearly traumatised by that experience and has only begun to recover. There is a clear risk to the lives of some of these families if they are returned to their countries. For others, the risk to the well-being of their children through removal from school, detention and return to a country they know nothing about, is severe. The knock-on effects for other families in similar situations is also palpible. Empty chairs in a classroom take on a much greater significance.

Please pray for those imposing these policies to look with compassion on these people, to see their own sons and daughters when they look at the children and to act with mercy.