Our @JCWI_UK event #WeAreHere has started. First up we are hearing from Adedayo, who is telling us how he entered the UK as student and his family legally but had a difficult time with his Home Office applications.

He describes his battle with the Home Office as feeling like an ant battling an elephant. His refused application, and tribunal experiences, left him with severe depression.

He describes extortionate fees and poor legal advice - £4000 expected overnight. This directly led him to attempt suicide. Heartbreaking testimony.

Adedayo says that he never expected his mental health to suffer in this way. And he has met many other asylum seekers who have suffered similarly. He says "the exploitation is too much, being paid £3.50 just to get by".

10 years later - today he is a law student. His whole family is being supported by @JCWI_UK including his wife who is training to be a mental health nurse. They should never have had to wait this long, and fight this hard for the right support.

As a migrant, he doesn't feel that people care or knows what is happening. He raises limited access to GPs under the Hostile Environment as an injustice.

Next up is our very own @ZoeJardiniere who has written the report. Zoe notes that without the contribution of the people who have been through the system, and sharing their stories, this research wouldn't have been possible.

She notes that Adedayo is not alone. The govt. would like us to focus on the culture war of channel crossings. But meanwhile, an estimated 1million migrants are trapped in the same situation. 86% have lived in this country for over 5 years.

She tells the story of Imka who filled in a form, the Home Office changed the rules, she was considered to have underpaid, she then became unwell, and missed the deadline. She became undocumented for no sensible reason whatsoever.

Existing routes to regularisation are completely out of reach. Everyone needs to work to survive. So undocumented migrants are forced into exploitative work just to survive. Devalued because of the system.

The stat about how unsafe the system is for people - twice the national average for men, three times for women, are subject to domestic violence and then unable to leave because they have no access to rights as they are undocumented.

Zoe shares how emotional it was working on this report, because of how unnecessarily cruel the system is. We must achieve the solutions that we have proposed.

We need a new route to regularsation based on 5 years residence, nobody who comes to live here should be kept in temporary status. It should be available for every visa, and visas which do not do this, should be scrapped.

Birthright citizenship should be reintroduced. Fees should be affordable. Illegal working offences should be scrapped. This is achievable - it is seen all over the world already.

We must learn from across the world and give voice to undocumented migrants. We must take a more global view.

The only people who benefit from the hostile environment are the people who are willing to exploit them. It doesn't have a place in our society.

Chair @BellRibeiroAddy points out Boris Johnson's hypocrisy.

Next up is Tashi from @WeBelong19. Everyone feeling very emotional about Adedayo's testimony. Tashi describes coming to the UK as a child, as did the founders of We Belong. They, like the people they represent, have experienced precarious status.

Tashi notes that the immigration system is failing, that migrants want and deserve equal rights. Many migrants are interwoven into our communities and have every right to be here. Processes to settlement are extremely difficult.

Tashi is sharing her story. She applied for asylum alongside her mother. She was in care during her childhood as her mother was unwell. She notes that deportation jokes were common as child - but they did not realise the real life impacts.

Tashi was detained when she was 10 and 15, after her applications were rejected. She was top of her class. She applied to university but was stopped at the gates because she was classed as an international student - despite being in the UK for 11 years.

Isolation is the experience of so many children with precarious status. Treated differently from their British peers. the cut off point at 18 is when it really hits you what it means to have precarious status. Even opening up a bank account can be difficult.

Cuts to legal aid and changes to the immigration rules mean people have to regularly keep themselves educated just to navigate the system.

The routes are so complicated, there are half life routes and then 20 year route (which is really a 30 year route) can mean that peopel are well into their 40s before they are regularised. Alongside eye-watering fees.

Many of these people are already paying into the system through their taxes, and then they are charged again to use the healthcare system AND pay for citizenship.

Migrant families are expected to have £5k despite being pushed into more exploitative work as set out by Adedayo. The average Brit doesn't even have £1k in their bank account.

It is a constant cycle of limbo, if you fall off the track, you have to start again. Families are pushed into poverty and debt. People have to choose between which children are documented or not.

These repeated applications and expensive fees are the reason why people become undocumented. @JCWI_UK recommendations would break this cycle AND ease the burden on the Home Office in processing these applications.

Next up is Amreen from @IPPR setting out why reform is needed right now, and what reforms are important. IPPR has been focussing on what happens to people when they lose their status due to vulnerabilities produced by the Hostile Environment.

Discriminatory practices and destitution, disproportionately impacted vulnerable communities. Data-sharing. Denial of healthcare. Landlords, employers etc. acting as border guards. Trafficking and being placed in danger because of Govt. policies.

The Hostile Environment does not work for anyone. It doesn't work for the public, for migrants, and not even the Home Office. It doesn't achieve the aims of the govt. so what is the point?

Amreen notes that the findings show that 82% entered through legal means, and 3/4 have family here. High percentages. People are unable to thrive and live a good quality of life if they slip through the cracks.

Routes to regularisation must be proposed as a way to fix the system. They must be simplified. @IPPR agrees with @JCWI_UK findings.

Amreen notes that a one-off amnesty would not work and we should be thinking broader. It is a problematic term, as it would be exclusive and subject. They can work in states of emergency or as a temporary measure but longer term pathways are better for legal clarity/stability.

There are clear benefits to regularisation - it enables people to access services and to funds. It will simplify the immigration rules (and help the Home Office). They have to take action particularly as EU nationals deadline is coming up. It must be sustainable.

The Home Office needs serious reform. And they need to reflect on the treatment of people of colour under their watch. We need a complete shift in policy.

Chair @BellRibeiroAddy points out good migrant/bad migrant narratives are extremely toxic. Now it's questions to the audience.

Don't forget to take action by asking your MP to read the report and get back to you. You can do that here: https://www.jcwi.org.uk/we-are-here-take-action