Protestors call for Oxfordshire detention centre to stay closed

The campaigners hoped to deter firms from bidding for contracts at immigration removal centres

Campaigners have called for an immigration removal centre (IRC) to stay shut.

The Home Office is looking to reopen Campsfield House in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, by the end of 2023.

In response, protestors gathered on Thursday to call for the centre to remain closed and attempted to deter companies from bidding for contracts.

But the Home Office said the facility would provide secure accommodation for those with no right to be in the UK.

Campaigners from Coalition to Keep Campsfield Closed gathered outside the facility with placards which read "immigration detention is not the answer" and "shame of profits made from misery".

Under government plans, Campsfield House, which closed in 2018, and Haslar IRC in Hampshire, would house 1,000 men between them.

Haslar IRC was closed in 2015 while Campsfield House shut in 2018 after years of problems, including riots, escapes and complaints about conditions.

The Home Office said Campsfield House "will provide secure accommodation for those with no right to be in the UK"

Bill MacKeith, from the campaign group, said the demonstration aimed to "keep up the profile of the local opposition to the reopening" as well as calling for firms not to get involved in the plans.

"Companies... make money out of locking up innocent people without time limit and without proper legal oversight," he said.

"Most asylum seekers held in detention are granted asylum, which means that, even following government thinking they should not have been imprisoned in the first place."

Campaigners say people held in detention "should not have been imprisoned in the first place"

But a Home Office spokesperson said Campsfield House "will provide secure accommodation for those with no right to be in the UK".

"Immigration detention plays a vital role in controlling our borders which the public rightly expects and decisions to detain are made on a case-by-case basis.

"The dignity and welfare of those in immigration detention is of the utmost importance and we have established policies, procedures and trained professionals in place at every immigration removal centre to safeguard individuals and support their physical and mental health," they added.