Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group

Supporting people affected by immigration detention

Are you in immigration detention?

📞 Freephone number for people in detention: 0800 389 4367

See how we can help

We work to improve the welfare and well-being of people held in immigration detention, by offering friendship, support and advocating for fair treatment.

What do we do:

  • Our caseworkers assist people in immigration detention with emotional and practical support.

  • We send clothing and phone credit to people held in immigration detention.

  • For those released from detention, we send supermarket vouchers to combat food insecurity.

  • Our volunteers regularly visit people in immigration detention to combat loneliness and isolation.

About Immigration Detention

  • In the year ending December 2025, 22,996 people entered immigration detention in the UK.

  • 44% of people who entered detention in 2025 were subsequently removed or voluntarily returned.

  • During the period 2020-2021, as stated in the Home Office Annual Report, detention cost the government £95 million.

Immigration Detention

Latest News

Get Involved

Are You In Detention?

Become a Friend

Refugee Tales

  • “I remember one man. His case seemed black and white. He was clearly a victim of torture, and was from a minority ethnic group and we knew there was an issue there and his life would be in danger but still his case was refused. Each time he was taken to the airport in a van not knowing what would happen but expecting to die if he was taken back to his country. He was eventually released from detention. His experience showed the way people are relentlessly and constantly ground down.”

    Karris, Previous Employee

  • “I wanted to be a trustee to be able to empower other people who are going through difficulty in their lives now, as far as detention is concerned. I want to encourage them to hold on.”

    Pious, Trustee

  • “When my friend told me about people being in detention in the UK, I thought I would visit and tell people: I went through this experience and it gets better.”

    Mariam, Volunteer Visitor

  • “When I see people being deported for no other reason than the colour of their skin, the fact that they are poor and without influence or agency, I ache for what is happening to them, but I also hate what we are allowing ourselves to become when we allow it to happen as we watch. We need to do better, as humans, as society; in our neighbourhoods, in our nation, in our world.”

    Sameena, Writer, Comedian and Supporter of GDWG

  • “Human beings have to be more ingenious than this, and more generous. We’ve got to come up with a better answer.”

    Ali Smith, Writer and Patron of Refugee Tales

“Human beings have to be more ingenious than this, and more generous. We’ve got to come up with a better answer.”
— Ali Smith in ‘Winter’