UKBA attacked for ‘dumping’ missing cases

MPs have accused the UK Border Agency of losing track of a population of asylum seekers and migrants equivalent to the size of Cambridge.

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Source: BBC News

Female asylum seekers struggle against UK culture of disbelief

(TrustLaw) – It should have been a happy time.

In 2008, Sanaa* (not her real name) left Iraq to join her British husband and start a new life in southeast England. But from the moment she set foot in her new home, she was beaten and verbally abused by her husband, also of Iraqi origin.

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Legal aid cuts could force trafficking victims to seek asylum

Lawyers have warned that proposed cuts to publicly funded immigration cases could force people who have been trafficked into the UK to seek asylum, even if this is not the best solution for them.

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Source: s o l i c i t o r s   j o u r n a l

Government opts out of asylum directives

The government has opted out of two EU asylum directives, one of which would allow people to work after being in the UK for six months, claiming that they would hinder the asylum system.

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Source: Economic Times

Goodbye paragraph 395C?

Source: Free Movement (Article first published 14 October 2011)

The cat gets it

Theresa May and David Cameron have promised to crack down on the perversion of human rights. May specifically stated that she wanted to amend the Immigration Rules to do so. Some of this is no doubt pure politics of the dogwhistle variety: it will not necessarily be followed by new policies or actual changes, but ministers want to be heard saying the ‘right’ thing.

It is difficult to take May seriously after Catgate. She cannot really be expected to check everything that is placed in front of her by her speech writers, but the pledge on changing the rules was unusually specific. I’ve been wondering what might follow, and my guess is that paragraph 395C will be scrapped. A Presenting Officer suggested to me that it might go the other day when we chatting before court, and this would perhaps arguably fulfil May’s promise.

The rule, very recently slightly amended, currently reads as follows:

395C. Before a decision to remove under section 10 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 or section 47 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 is given, regard will be had to all the relevant factors known to the Secretary of State including:

(i) age;

(ii) length of residence in the United Kingdom;

(iii) strength of connections with the United Kingdom;

(iv) personal history, including character, conduct and employment record;

(v) domestic circumstances;

(vi) previous criminal record and the nature of any offence of which the person has been convicted;

(vii) compassionate circumstances;

(viii) any representations received on the person’s behalf.

In the case of family members, the factors listed in paragraphs 365-368 must also be taken into account.

The flaw is that, as you can see, the paragraph makes no mention whatsoever of human rights. Arguments under this rule have a completely different legal basis additional to and more generous than human rights arguments. I don’t think this sort of legal nicety will bother May and her speech writers, however. The arguments made under paragraph 395C are basically the same as made under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Paragraph 395C was a surprisingly generous addition to the rules when it was introduced in 2006 following the deportation debacle, and it also, by a legal quirk, gives huge discretion to immigration judges to make up their own mind about how to dispose of a case. That is the very last thing that the last two governments seem to want – allowing judges to judge cases on their merit under national and international law.

An introduction to working with unaccompanied children

20th September, London – this course covers who unaccompanied children are, asylum determination, lodging an application and the asylum process, the roles of different adults in the system, the legal and policy framework for support and care, including the Children Act, the impact of the asylum process on care planning, common issues faced by unaccompanied children and those working with them.

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£12m paid in asylum compensation

More than £12 million has been paid out in legal costs and compensation to asylum seekers and other migrants in the last year. This includes payments to families who were unlawfully detained and removed.

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Source: The Independent

UKBA Asylum Statistics for May 2011

Home Office Monthly Asylum Statistics for May 2011 (Released July 28^th) http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/immigration-asylum-research/asylum-may-2011?view=Binary

‘Asexual, Apolitical Beings’

‘Asexual, Apolitical Beings’: The Interpretation of Children’s Identities and Experiences in the UK Asylum System by H Crawley  in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2011 explores the experiences of separated asylum-seeking children and considers the  implications of dominant understandings of ‘childhood’ for the ways in which the children’s experiences  of persecution and violence are interpreted in the UK asylum system.

Critical report on UKBA use of country information

Source: Free Movement

The Chief Inspector of UKBA, John Vine, two weeks ago released a new report on the use of country information by the UK Border Agency in asylum claims. I’ve been too busy to finish writing about it, unfortunately, and am still catching up on various things that have happened recently.

The UK Border Agency had advance sight of the report and has already responded. Most of the recommendations were accepted, at least in theory. In reality the standard response is: “thanks, we’re actually doing that already as far as we are concerned but we’ll slightly adjust our policy documents (which no-one ever reads) to pay some lip service”.

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